Be the Spoon

Here After

2011-06-19T15:34:00.000+02:00

Directed by Clint Eastwood
Produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall

How does a spaghetti western actor evolve to one of the greatest and most sensitive story tellers of our time? In most of his movies, I have been left touched and fulfilled. He broke my heart in Bridges of Madison County, he continued to do so even more with Million Dollar Baby and now Here After. Even when he goes back to the genre that lifted him to fame, he weaves a tale that even a non-western fan can identify and be touched by.

Here After is a beautiful movie about the here after and even as a non believer, I accept, for the two hours, that this place exists. If you’ve ever lost someone close, you have no choice but to be drawn in and accept the possibility that there is that place. This is what movies are about and this is why we love watching them, to be enveloped by the possibility the film presents and to just let it take us there.

I love the way this movie is put together. It reminded me a little of M. Night Shyamalan in his earlier days when you were not quite sure where the movie was taking you. The tragedy about Shyamalan is that you now do, and the triumph of Eastwood is that you still don’t know what to expect and are happy to sit back and let the story unfold because at the end, you know it is something profound that you are going to come away with.

In this one, you have seemingly unrelated characters that you know and hope have to converge somewhere but not quite sure how or when. And when they eventually do, they fit in perfectly together. It is kind of like the peeled onion being put together, layer by layer, and the emotion also goes in reverse as the onion goes back to it’s original form. Ultimately no tears, and the world is as it should be.

I also love the way in which real life events help form significant moments in the movie. To reveal what they are would be to spoil the enjoyment so let’s just say these moments are heart wrenching.

What a wonderful story. I still think that psychics are master statisticians, but that did not take away from my enjoyment of this most beautiful movie.

Four spoons

Note: Matt Damon looks nothing like the poster image. Dude has aged, and he's allowed.
Another note: Incase you are still wondering whether to rent the dvd, the writer (Robert Morgan) also did screenplays for: Frost/Nixon, The Queen, The Last King of Scotland, and many others…
And yet another note: Clint Eastwood did the beautiful and haunting music for the movie as well.

What are some of your best Woody Allen flicks

2011-04-27T18:00:00.000+02:00

It’s been a while since i’ve thoroughly enjoyed a Woody Allen movie. I think this (while) started when he stopped playing his own characters and pawned them off to his actors. I particularly cringed at Kenneth Branagh portrayal of what should have been a Woody Allen character.

Yes, that’s it, I stopped enjoying Woody Allen characters when he removed himself from his scripts. He started writing his character (the neurotic-inappropriately-honest-and-insightful-nerdy-older guy) for other people like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity and Larry David in Whatever Works. And then he completely started writing himself out of scripts and the only way to identify his movies is through the font of the opening titles and less so through the dialogue which he was so amazing at crafting.

I don’t think I have a favourite Woody Allen movie, it is not Annie Hall (that was before my time), and it’s not Match Point nor Deconstructing Harry, nor Mighty Aphrodite. I don’t have a favourite Woody Allen movie because all of them put together, all the conversations and twisted but true observations about relationships in his movies are just one movie really, with different players and plots.

You had me at hello

2011-04-09T18:49:00.000+02:00

Romance, or my idea of it anyway, is built from bits and pieces of mushy speeches and memorable moments from some of the greatest romantic flicks, recent and not so recent. Moments that touched the very core of my mushy bone and ruined every romantic moment I would ever have.

Not to say that life is devoid of poetry and romance. In fact, it is everywhere. It’s poetic that we are who we are, where we are in this moment. It is poetic that we make connections that make a meaningful impact in our lives. There’s poetry in moments, there's poetry in spaces, there's poetry in the chaos and the plan. and it extends from a second to an eternity.

But back to the best romantic speeches and moments in celluloid of all time:

In no particular order, (as long as Chasing Amy is number 1) here some of my favourites:

Chasing Amy (where Amy is the one that Silent Bob let get away):

Scene, Alysia and Holden are driving home in the rain after having a meal where Alysia buys Holden a painting to mark their friendship and their moment, Holden can't stand it anymore and says:

I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly.

You are the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human being. And I know that you think of me as just a friend, and crossing that line is the furthest thing from an option you would ever consider.

But I had to say it. I just, I can't take this anymore. I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't, I can't look into your eyes without feeling that, that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are.

And I know this will probably queer our friendship - no pun intended - but I had to say it, because I've never felt this way before, and I don't care. I like who I am because of it. And if bringing this to light means we can't hang out anymore, then that hurts me.

But God, I just, I couldn't allow another day to go by without just getting it out there, regardless of the outcome, which by the look on your face is to be the inevitable shoot-down. And, you know, I'll accept that.

But I know...I know that some part of you is hesitating for a moment, and if there is a moment of hesitation, then that means you feel something too. All I ask, please, is that you just, you just not dismiss that - and try to dwell in it for just ten seconds.

Alyssa, there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who has ever made me half the person I am when I'm with you, and I would risk this friendship for the chance to take it to the next plateau. Because it is there between you and me. You can't deny that.

Even if, you know, even if we never talk again after tonight, please know that I'm forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which - while I do appreciate it - I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of.

My other favourite is from the English Patient

ALMÁSY: I claim this shoulder blade - oh no, wait - I want this! He turns her over, kisses her throat, then traces the hollow indentation.

This - what's it called? - this place, I love it - this is mine! (Katharine doesn't know)I'm asking the King permission to call it the Almasy Bosphorous.

And of course Brokeback Mountain:

Jack Twist: Tell you what, we coulda had a good life together, fuckin' real good life! Had us a place of our own. But you didn't want it, Ennis! So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain! Everything's built on that, that's all we got boy, fuckin' all. So I hope you know that, if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on, and then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! I'm not you... I can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you son of a whoreson bitch... I wish I knew how to quit you.

Ennis Del Mar: Well why don't you? Why don't you just let me be, huh? Because of you, Jack, that I'm like this. I'm nothing... and nowhere.

Before Sunrise

Jesse: [stops Celine and positions her in front of him at arm's length]
Celine: What?
Jesse: Uh... I'm gonna take your picture. So I never forget you or, uh, or all this.
Celine: Okay. Me too.

Neither has a camera…

Eat Pray Love

2011-02-14T12:04:00.000+02:00

I don’t like making fun of people; I only like making fun of the characters they play. And the characters they play aren’t real so their feelings can’t be hurt except within the realm of the piece of work they are in. And we are not in the realm of eat pray love. Although it is based on real people and experiences…. Hhhmmm. I declare that as soon as memoirs and autobiographies are portrayed in a movie by actors, it is okay to make fun of those characters as comment on the delivery and not the people they portray. (makes sense right?)

Right, having said that, it gives me license to nominate and award blathering-idiot-scene-of-the-year to the roof top scene where Richard from Texas spills his guts to Liz about why he is in India. Personally, I think that scene should have been played straight. It should have been, I am here because blah blah blah. Instead, you have this build up and build up and build up and expect a really horrifying story because of the emotion put into the telling of it. But it turns out it isn’t. I was so irritated and annoyed because I too had invested in the scene only to be let down by a stupid almost moment.

I fought with this movie, I avoided the book because motivational books are just not my cup of tea. We all have our paths and one person’s beaten track may not necessarily be our own. So I fought and fought and won. I don’t like the movie. I don’t like its message, I have little in common with Liz and I don’t think I like her as a person (the character of her that is).

But the book did resonate with a lot of women and I can understand that. My ‘eat pray love’ moment (if I have one) is captured in an interview Oprah did with her:

"I had so given up on that. I mean, I was in Rome, I was in Italy where people are, like, making love on the sidewalks," she says. "And I just remember looking at them and thinking, 'This is not for you. You're going to have a different kind of life. Like, other people get this. You don't get this. But that's okay.' And then I got it."

Liz fell in love with a Brazilian man named Felipe. In the book, Liz writes, "Felipe finally put his palm against my cheek and said, 'That's enough, darling. Come to my bed now.' And I did."

Liz's eyes water as she talks about Felipe. "I loved what he said when he said, 'That's enough,'" she says. "Because we'd been courting for weeks. And he didn't say, 'That's enough of you not giving me you.' You know? What he said was,

'That's enough of you on your own in this world. Now I'm with you. Come on. Let's go together now. That's enough. You proved it. You can do it on your own. And now you get to have that and me. So let's go.'"

Type type type type type…..

2011-02-01T09:59:00.000+02:00

Some times to get into the rhythm of writing, like they did in Finding Forester, you just have to start writing, continue from a previous piece of writing to find your own inspiration.

I have a technical piece to write but my head is not there yet so instead, I will ramble...

I was shocked yesterday when I read a BBC Breaking News tweet that Omar Sharif is in support of the protests. I was ready to tweet back at the BBC that Omar Sharif was dead and that they should check their source who was an imposter. I also thought that maybe bbc was making a joke of some kind even though I had not seen any evidence of this kind of sense of humor. I also thought maybe Omar Sharif was representative of the western view of Egypt and the reference was symbolic. In any case, I was ready to retweet and correct the BBC, yes me correct the BBC on the blatant mistake they had made. Good thing I second guess myself as a matter of course, and went off to Google.
I swear I thought he was dead! I am sure I heard something to that effect a few years ago, that the Dr Zhivago had passed. Anyway, the dude is alive and well and maybe 150 years old.

So today is the million man march in Egypt. I find this perpetuating the station that woman hold in that country. Far from me to make judgments about a country I know little about but the little I saw, had very few women in it. At night time driving through Cairo, all the bars were patroned by men smoking their shisha. In all the hotels and museums and historic sites, few women, many men.

I suppose there could be fewer women in the tourist and retail industry than in other industries. Our tour guide also explained that the women in Egypt are free to do as they wished. If you see them adorned in a black Hijab, even in 40 degree weather, it is because they choose to and it is practical.

Now I wonder if this million man march is meant literally. Will women be present? Are they allowed to be present? Can they participate in the revolution of their own country and of themselves?

Egypt

2011-01-13T17:18:00.000+02:00

The perfect picture only exists in our minds...

Even a sphinx has a sphincter ...

Breathtaking from afar...

...and breathtaking from 'anear', Abu Simbel. Would like to erect something like this for my borders.

Mixed feelings about the Obelisk remain...

A sunrise on the river Nile...

Through the eyes of one's companions...

I now know what it means to be Nubian

2011-01-06T12:25:00.000+02:00

Nubia means the place of gold. And Nubians are an Egyptians race who have kept their bloodline pure by not marrying outsiders. They also have their own secret language that is not written and anyone that is an outsider is not allowed to be taught it.

Before the trip to Egypt, I had no idea of a Christian religion called Copt. Of course following the bombing of the Coptic Church in Alexandria a few days ago, I now know that such a religion exists and so much of its history and its origins are in Egypt.

Egypt and Egyptians touch a lot of the world’s history. Jesus, Mary and Joseph spent three years in Egypt, I saw a few days ago the place where they hid ( a church of St Sergius and St Bacchus in Cairo) when Herod(?) was killing all the first borns.

These are just miniscule pieces of information that one gathers traveling around Egypt. It is rich and I do not have the mental capacity to absorb (never mind relate) all the stories I’ve been told about this rich place. All I can do is connect the pieces of information to movies and books I’ve read. I try to connect some of Cairo to the African settings of the English Patient. And so on and so on.

I wish I could post some the pictures of my trip so far but the camera doesn’t have the connection. I and a cute couple from Pretoria did a trip to Abu Simbel. (80% of the tour party is from Durban and a little on the elderly side, but this is a story for another time). As an ignorant person of Egyptology, I felt a little that this trip was wasted on me. Abu Simbel is a temple that Ramses II built to show his might. It is one of the must sees next to the Pyramids. The temple’s entrance is flanked by four huge statues of Ramses II himself at various ages. To put it into scale, a hand of the statue is about as tall as an average sized person. A smile is about a meter long. These are huge statues and inside the temple itself are more statues and Egyptian ancient writing that a more enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist would go nuts for. I felt a little like someone who acquires a precious thing but has no idea how to begin to appreciate it.

On a more personal note, very little can be spoilt by a visit to Egypt, the place is awe inspiring, BUT being a woman travelling alone comes close. It is a Muslim country (80% Muslim, 10% Coptic) and women are covered up. I am not Muslim and I am travelling alone. This for some reason gives an impression to Egyptian men can try their luck. Ordering room service was an experience that I can laugh about now but was ready to put my kata-box skills to work a few days ago. And as open as I am to new experiences, invading my personal space and telling me I have a good body will not make me readily take my clothes off and want to get it on, I don’t care how good looking you are. And the men in Cairo are above average good looking. But Ninja please!

I love my country

2011-01-03T18:48:00.000+02:00

I am this person. I am the kind of person that would go to the greatest places in the world and still long for the familiar surroundings that I call home, that I call South Africa. The familiar and friendly faces of the people of the south. I will romanticise of what a great country I live in and how unthreatening and welcoming we are to visitors and how other places around the world fail miserably at this. I am that person. I am a melancholic traveler. I am not proud of this and will try to change it.

First day in Egypt, in Cairo and I am amazed at how filthy this place is. I am shocked that the Sheraton would put their name to the Hotel I am staying at. I am horrified at the aggression of the people here and I can not wait to move out of Cairo and into hopefully more serene setting of Egypt.

Do not get me wrong, the Egypt and the Pyramids are awe-inspiring and beautiful and rich with history, probably the richest place on earth in terms of History? But one cannot help but be discouraged by some of the history, like that of the pyramids, these were built for vanity and ego's sake and not the greatness of someone else or to commemorate greatness but to make sure that I as a king am buried in a tomb that is bigger and better than the previous one.

Pictures (and a more thoughtful post hopefully) to follow tomorrow…

Just Wright

2010-12-29T23:18:00.000+02:00

With: Queen Latifah as Leslie Wright, Common as Scott McNight, Paula Patton as Morgan, Pam Grier, Phylicia Rashad, James Pickens Jr
Directed by: Sanaa Hamri

Heartwarmer, your cries have been heard and they’ve been answered! Just Wright, the cute romantic flick that is Just Wright has been made.

Now we know the Queen has manic skills. She rocks! She rocked with Jimmy Fallon in Taxi, she kinda rocked in that holiday movie. She totally boulders! in this most satisfying romantic comedy that pulls all the rights strings and does not totally demonise or vilify black woman and their gorgeous black men.

It does not vilify the gold digger. It does not stereo type the over protective ball player’s mother. There are no cat fights and ho calling and bitch and skank. Just good fun with some refreshing incites that are Just Wright.

This can easily make it to the list below under best romantic flick and alternative romantic flick.

Now you know I had to be biased about this movie given the lead male charater, but I tried my damndest to not drool over the TV screen when Common was doing his sit ups with his shirt off. Can I just say, he is thee most beautiful man alive today? Can I? Can I? He is beautiful.

The scenes with the dad were one of my favorites.

I want to shout from the roof tops about how great this movie is, but since I live on a middle floor, I will resort to gushing over the keyboard.

Love love love this movie.

Four spoons!

It loses one spoon because I think the way they eventually get to kiss was not quite the right moment. Although I understand why there, I just think t should have happened at a less glamorous setting. No shiny ball gown and tuxedo. Just them on the couch watching Romancing the Stone!

Disclaimer: the lunar cycle may have something to do with this post.

Not the Golden Globes - recent film greats

2010-12-24T11:12:00.000+02:00

Okay so clearly we did not see enough films in 2010 that would qualify for this so I suggest that we expand to 'recent film greats'.

Sci fi vs action differentiation - action takes place on earth with no aliens, sci fi takes place in outer space or on earth with aliens. If Super Man made it on to the list, we’d invent new definition ;)

Heartwarmer, please add more.

Here are some categories and nominations:

Best sci fi flick

Star Trek

War of the worlds

Knowing

Avatar

Moon – Sam Rockwell

Contact

Best traditional romantic flick

Chasing Amy

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Bend it like Beckam

Love Actually

Brokeback Mountain

The Notebook (just for you heartwarmer)

Spanglish

Best alternative romantic flick

Brokeback Mountain

A Single Man

Short Bus

Gray Matters

Best Drama – ugly cry

Revolutionary Road

Brokeback Mountain

Everybody’s Fine – surprisingly touching and yes I did the ugly cry for it

Angels in America

Best Comedy – pee in your pants funny

Funny People – Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan

Hot Fuzz – Simon Pegg ripping off Bad Boys

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

East is East

Kung fu Hustle

Accepting nominations for best puke inducing 'romcoms', I've tried that with my friend 'bromance', the call is coming from inside 'horror', and 'animated'.

WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO

2010-12-23T17:34:00.000+02:00

I really know how to pick them huh.

So, here's another black movie. What is it about black movies (note: I love us) that they just fail to inspire.

I mean seriously. Tyler Perry. C'mon guy.

We need you to do better.

Thing is, I suppose, to some extent, on some level, he did have us all going. The story was as tight as tight can be which in the bigger universe of movies is tight-ish - but then he just lost it completely. Its like he just suddently lost his mind and decided he was just too tired to develop a decent enough ending. And all we are left with is sand in our eyes, ears, mouth...

Like seriously, WTF?

Okay, so you have these four married couples.

Janet Jackson, the doctor, with her hubby Malik Yoba. They have problems but never want to tell.

Jill Scott with her unemployed sheriff husband who goes all I AM MAN on her. But she should have known better. I mean that Soul Food movie wrote that part first. She should have known. You know the scene. Current husband/boyfriend can't seem to find a job so girlfriend/wife decides to intervene and calls on ex boyfriend/husband to make a few calls and get him a job. Current boyfriend/husband gets job, but its only a matter of time till he finds out the truth...and then ITS ON! Jill should have known better. AND TYLER SHOULD NOT HAVE REPEATED THIS SCENARIO!

Then there's the crazy couple. Even though her husband has cheated on her numerous times, she still finds it in her heart to forgive him. Even when he flirts with youngens in broad daylight, right in her view and her friends view - she forgives him, ghetto-ly - but forgives none the less.

Its like, what are you trying to teach us here Tyler? Huh? What is your point exactly! ARGH!

Couple number three is Tyler and his wife who fantasise about 'doing it' with some colleague of hers while she's doing her husband...imagine that...she imagines another man when doing her husband? She never really cheated I guess. Just dresses for him everyday when she goes to work. Puts on a little extra perfume, them sexy spaghetti straps...pencil skirt...whatever.

At first they all seem happy. And then all become mad at each other. And then all make up again. How do they make up, you ask. Well during Janet and Malik's fight - he ends up in an accident (later dies - boo hoo, a year later Janet finds herself another potential lover...eish) and Janet literally tells everybody...in exactly these worlds...well almost, "don't end up like me, make up'. And they all walk over to each other and just like that...they are all hugs and kisses and made up.

WHUT!

COME ON MAN!

BESIDES THE SUPER WEAK STORY DEVELOPMENT AT THAT POINT, I'm sick of these same ol' same ol' black stories man. I mean it was fun for a little while Tyler. That Diary of a Mad Black Woman was 'fun'. But come on. Can we move beyond this TYPE! Please.

2011 Golden Globe Nominations

2010-12-14T16:28:00.000+02:00

Golden Globe Nominations are out, time to go back to the cinema, yay!

1. Best Motion Picture – Drama
A. Black Swan
B. The Fighter
C. Inception
D. The King’s Speech
E. The Social Network

2. Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Drama
A. Halle Berry Frankie And Alice
B. Nicole Kidman Rabbit Hole
C. Jennifer Lawrence Winter’s Bone
D. Natalie Portman Black Swan
E. Michelle Williams Blue Valentine

3. Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama

A. Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network
B. Colin Firth The King’s Speech
C. James Franco 127 Hours
D. Ryan Gosling Blue Valentine
E. Mark Wahlberg The Fighter

4. Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Alice In Wonderland
B. Burlesque
C. The Kids Are All Right
D. Red
E. The Tourist

5. Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Annette Bening The Kids Are All Right
B. Anne Hathaway Love And Other Drugs
C. Angelina Jolie The Tourist
D. Julianne Moore The Kids Are All Right
E. Emma Stone Easy A

6. Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Johnny Depp Alice In Wonderland
B. Johnny Depp The Tourist
C. Paul Giamatti Barney’s Version
D. Jake Gyllenhaal Love And Other Drugs
E. Kevin Spacey Casino Jack

7. Best Animated Feature Film
A. Despicable Me
B. How To Train Your Dragon
C. The Illusionist
D. Tangled
E. Toy Story 3

8. Best Foreign Language Film
A. Biutiful (Mexico/Spain)
B. The Concert (France)
C. The Edge (Russia)
D. I Am Love (Italy)
E. In A Better World (Denmark)

9. Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
A. Amy Adams The Fighter
B. Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
C. Mila Kunis Black Swan
D. Melissa Leo The Fighter
E. Jacki Weaver Animal Kingdom

10. Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
A. Christian Bale The Fighter
B. Michael Douglas Wall Street: Money Never
Sleeps
C. Andrew Garfield The Social Network
D. Jeremy Renner The Town
E. Geoffrey Rush The King’s Speech

11. Best Director – Motion Picture
A. Darren Aronofsky Black Swan
B. David Fincher The Social Network
C. Tom Hooper The King’s Speech
D. Christopher Nolan Inception
E. David O. Russell The Fighter

12. Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
A. Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
B. Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
C. Christopher Nolan Inception
D. David Seidler The King’s Speech
E. Aaron Sorkin The Social Network

13. Best Original Score – Motion Picture
A. Alexandre Desplat The King’s Speech
B. Danny Elfman Alice In Wonderland
C. A.R. Rahman 127 Hours
D. Trent Reznor, The Social Network
E. Hans Zimmer Inception

14. Best Original Song – Motion Picture
A. “Bound To You” — Burlesque
Music By: Samuel Dixon
Lyrics By: Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler
B. “Coming Home” — Country Strong
Music & Lyrics By: Bob Dipiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges
C. “I See The Light” — Tangled
Music By: Alan Menken
Lyrics By: Glenn Slater
D. “There’s A Place For Us” — Chronicles Of Narnia: The
Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
Music & Lyrics By: Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey
E. “You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me” — Burlesque
Music & Lyrics By: Diane Warren

15. Best Television Series – Drama
A. Boardwalk Empire (Hbo)
B. Dexter (Showtime)
C. The Good Wife (Cbs)
D. Mad Men (Amc)
E. The Walking Dead (Amc)

16. Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Drama
A. Julianna Margulies The Good Wife
B. Elisabeth Moss Mad Men
C. Piper Perabo Covert Affairs
D. Katey Sagal Sons Of Anarchy
E. Kyra Sedgwick The Closer
17. Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Drama
A. Steve Buscemi Boardwalk Empire
B. Bryan Cranston Breaking Bad
C. Michael C. Hall Dexter
D. Jon Hamm Mad Men
E. Hugh Laurie House

18. Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
A. 30 Rock (Nbc)
B. The Big Bang Theory (Cbs)
C. The Big C (Showtime)
D. Glee (Fox)
E. Modern Family (Abc)
F. Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

19. Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series –Comedy Or Musical
A. Toni Collette United States Of Tara
B. Edie Falco Nurse Jackie
C. Tina Fey 30 Rock
D. Laura Linney The Big C
E. Lea Michele Glee
20. Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
A. Alec Baldwin 30 Rock
B. Steve Carell The Office
C. Thomas Jane Hung
D. Matthew Morrison Glee
E. Jim Parsons The Big Bang Theory

21. Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Carlos (Sundance Channel)
B. The Pacific (Hbo)
C. Pillars Of The Earth (Starz)
D. Temple Grandin (Hbo)
E. You Don’t Know Jack (Hbo)

22. Best Performance By An Actress In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Hayley Atwell Pillars Of The Earth
B. Claire Danes Temple Grandin
C. Judi Dench Return To Cranford
D. Romola Garai Emma
E. Jennifer Love Hewitt The Client List

23. Best Performance By An Actor In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Idris Elba Luther
B. Ian Mcshane Pillars Of The Earth
C. Al Pacino You Don’t Know Jack
D. Dennis Quaid The Special Relationship
E. Edgar Ramirez Carlos

24. Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Hope Davis The Special Relationship
B. Jane Lynch Glee
C. Kelly Macdonald Boardwalk Empire
D. Julia Stiles Dexter
E. Sofia Vergara Modern Family

25. Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Scott Caan Hawaii Five-O
B. Chris Colfer Glee
C. Chris Noth The Good Wife
D. Eric Stonestreet Modern Family
E. David Strathairn Temple Grandin

Source: HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION media relaese

THE KARATE KIDS

2010-11-30T16:56:00.000+02:00

Well, we dragged ourselves to go see the Karate Kid - the one with Will and Jada Smith's baby boy. It was fun.

Growing up I guess the Karate Kid, with Mr Miyagi and Daniel Son was really probably one of my favourite movies. I remember feeling sick watching poor Daniel Son being beaten by those bad karate kids, and then having Mr Miyagi come to the rescue. Ah, the victory of it all just fills one up with all the hope in the world. That anything is possible. That you can overcome whatever hurdle, however impossible it seems.

In the 'new' karate kid, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and Mr Han (Jackie Chang) make just as good a team. I think the fact that Dre is much younger than Daniel Son also makes for a more romanticised or dreamy idea of 'the karate kid'. Which I think is perfect. Cause the Karate kid is suppose to be kind of like a super hero...so far fetched that it becomes idealistic or...I don't know, just something you can fantasise about being basically, however unrealistic it is. Being the impossible.

I thought this new Karate Kid would copy every single move from the origional karate kid, well...it does, but adds a little bit more spunk to it so that there are some really cool surprises.

I had fun with the movie (even though I really think it should have been a 'made for tv' kind). More so cause I'm taking some karate classes me-self. Me fancies me-self as a err...older karate girl-kid. hehehehe. Haaaa-yaaaaah!

Inception

2010-09-05T00:24:00.000+02:00

So no. It is not The Matrix. It is not Dark City. It is not What Dreams May Come. It is not even the Sixth Sense. Although all these films do come to mind when watching Inception. You would think this was one mind blowing mind bender that pushes you to question stuff and have really interesting conversations afterward. It is not.

The only thing I heard from people who watched the movie was, yeah, it was really interesting you have to concentrate. I had the feeling that they did not really know what to make of the movie and did not want to dismiss it out right. Well people, imma say it, this movie was shite.

The fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was in this really works against it because this is not a performance driven movie but more of an idea driven movie.

What they try to do in the movie, to create an idea in ones’ subconscious through breaking into your dreams is kinda like what they try to do with the audience. As an audience member, much like a dreamer, I did not very much buy into the movie. I somehow believe that rather than our dreams creating our reality, our dreams are the filing cabinets or the post office for our reality. Breaking into someone’s dream to plant an idea seems to be as effective as trying to kill someone by waiting for them to die. You wanna mess with someone’s mind and subconscious, have a conversation with them.

And another thing, there is a question on whether we as people perceive reality the same, that my perception is totally different to the next person’s, how in hell if we struggle with this can we even begin to share and participate in one dream?

Back to Dicarprio, the dude just towered over his co actors, it was painful to watch. As brilliant as Ellen Page was in Juno, putting her up against Dicarprio was just plain bad casting. It was wrong. That role should have gone to some male actor who’d act a little insane. A little like Brad Pitt’s character in twelve monkeys? Hey that’s another movie that comes to mind.

What I liked about the movie, is that it connected all of us by identifying what we all have in common, that dreaded dream where we fall. We are all one in our terror there.

Watching Inception was for me like reading my horoscope, interesting, good positive ideas but no basis for me to believe any of it is true, even in a darkened theater where we are suppose to suspend what we know in order to escape.

Love the weight less scenes though.

Two spoons

Disclaimer/Confession: Inception was watched at bedtime, had to dope up with a can of redbull to make sure that I did not fall asleep. Staying up past one’s bedtime has been shown to skew one’s perception and experience of the world. I am cranky!

Social media mafia? it’s a big virtual playground…

2010-08-15T09:49:00.000+02:00

Not exactly the e-mafia story, I will leave that to some other braver person to pen. This is more of a school playground social media story. Not sure if this scenario has been painted before (everything has been done before) but this is my take on it.

The online scene is similar to a school playground. You have your cool kids, your geeks, your bullies, your drug dealers lurking on the other side of the fence, your cool teachers who ‘get’ their students, and all other sorts, garths, loners, nose pickers, et cetera, et cetera!

Here is a bit of a segmentation:

The geeks: these are your actual, modern day cool kids actually. Reversal of fortune. The ones that were shunned and mocked for being too smart and being know-it-alls and got the snort beat out of them? Yeah them, they now rule the play ground. How else would you explain the popularity of the biggest geeks on twitter right now?

The cool kids: these are the ones that won’t even acknowledge the playground, they are out somewhere else frenching, doing afterschool jobs and smoking cigarettes. Not living through 140 characters at a time or begging for friendship to forgotten school acquaintances. These guys rock and everybody on the playground still want to be them.

The Bullies: These are the guys that give some of the kids on the playground a hard time. They are not the law but have knighted themselves as such. They piss on any good idea that is not their own and other kids follow them because they are afraid of being their next victim.

The dealers lurking on the other side of the fence: These are your corporates trying with all their corporate might to fit in with the kids but they are just too old and too obvious. The meek fall for their act and buy the wares they are peddling but everybody else knows that this is no place for a hawker. The children just wanna play!!!

The skanks: These are the whores of social media who follow anyone that has an account, accept friendships from total strangers, check in to every venue for whatever prize, post unflattering pics of their kin, have overly flattering cv’s on linked, etc, etc, etc. You know who you are! These are the guys who also hook up with the cool kids outside the bleachers because they would not want to miss out on real life as well.

The cool teachers: My favourites. These are your wise, older, sexy, hanging on by a thread personalities that parents can relate to. They help parents understand the dynamics of the play ground and all the skanks and the virtuous virgins fall in love with them. They

There are many many more cliques on the playground, which one would you be? And feel free to match actual social media personalities with the cliques above and the ones you come up with.

*Picture - Skins, the first group. one of the best and twisted series ever!

Hurt Locker

2010-08-06T19:40:00.000+02:00

Hurt Locker - the budget that shamed Avatar

Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pierce, they have very brief but fatal appearances

“The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

So Hurt locker won best feature at this year’s Oscars, with a fraction of the Avatar budget and an ex wife of the Avatar maker directing. Did it deserve it?

Well, I always believe that the American psyche is a fickle one. Their collective guilt and continued conflicted presence in the countries they hope to liberate is enough to influence the influenceable Hollywood Foreign Press.

I also believe that less is more and a drama driven script (as opposed to special effects driven one) will always come out on top.

Hurt Locker has great suspense, great dramatic performances, but one gets the feeling that this is a made for American public eyes. Kinda like the war news reels they used to make during WWII to gain support of the American public. CNN, Aljazeera, Sky, BBC, you are tame, America needs sequential timeous neatly packed drama to start making sense of their boys being out there. Hurt Locker tells a story, which also, has no end.

War breeds war.

Hurt Locker deserved to beat Avatar, simply because Star Trek was not in the running for best Oscar flick.

Disclaimer: all references to americans are made with limited actual knowledge of americans, except their dismal showing at the 2010 world cup.

Made for TV movies!

2010-08-04T22:52:00.000+02:00

So I just came back from watching my favourite gal, "Ugly Betty", on the big screen. I guess having her background in television, I should have known that this would be a TV type movie. You know, the kind you can afford to wait to see on television. The kind that the big screen can't even help boost a little. Yeah, that's Our Family Wedding alright.
Don't get me wrong, I mean it was relatively entertaining. I mean, about thirty minutes into the movie I realised that it was the kind of show that you had to drive yourself to be entertained by. Know what I mean. Its kinda like laughing at your fiance's joke even though they aren't THAT hilarious. You do it cause you generally enjoy him.
I generally enjoy Ugly Betty, so I couldn't let this movie be a complete dud for me so I laughed at the jokes...funny parts rather which seemed soooooo rehearsed/overdone.
I mean can you ever imagine Forest Whitaker aka Idi Amin as a funny character in a romantic comedy? Doesn't fit right...he tries to play an old hottie in this movie (younger women can't help but fall for him...apparently) and...I don't know I just find his eye to be a distraction. Is that just me?
Anyway, you can definitely wait to see this one on M-net. Oh yeah, that Regina King (I hope that's right) from 227 is also in this...she too just can't help but drop her draws for oh so irresistible Forest.
Oh and the overall storyline, paler girl meets darker boy - they fall in love - want to get married - but wait till the very last moment to tell their family - is soooooooooooooooooooooooo old. What year did Jungle Fever come out again?
1 and a half spoons

A Single Man

2010-07-02T19:47:00.000+02:00

Starring: Colin Firth, Julienne Moore, Mathew Goode, Nicholas Hoult
Directed by: Tom Ford (apparently a huge fashion designer but am not too clued up on that)
Based on a book by Christopher Isherwood

It’s been a few years since Brokeback Mountain. I thought Brokeback Mountain would open up the door to a whole new genre that was not just about peripheral characters in inane romantic comedies but about introducing alternative romantic drama to the worlds.

But it has taken this long for a movie to be mentioned in the same breath as ‘I wish I knew how to quit you…’.

Tom Ford, thank you, or keeping the torch burning.

Yes, so A Single Man a great, it is poignant and heartfelt and broke my heart.

It is a story of loss, and discovery that even when you’ve lost everything that means anything, the world continues to hold treasures that are worth living for.

Tom Ford portrays these little treasures by infusing colour on those treasures so that it is easy for the viewer to map the things that go toward opening up Colin Firth mind about ending it all.

It is a beautiful movie with stunning imagery. It had me at the opening scene. But the ink blot on the sheets, the way Nicholas emerges out of the dull colours, the dichotomy of the one made up eye verses the plain, vicious verses tender, and the gorgeous Spanish trick. These are images that linger and offer more than what is on the surface and only an agent who brokers these kinds of images can offer them up so appetizingly.

It is a beautiful story and it resonates, bent or straight.

4 spoons

Ai! Bafana Bafana

2010-06-17T22:21:00.000+02:00

The funniest thing I heard today.
You know how that whole 'feel it, its here' - slogan or whatever you wanna call it was like on everybody's lips in the days leading up to and during the bafana matches/world cup.
You know how it changed from 'feel it, it is here' to a very ghettorised, "Phillip, he's here."
After our 3 - 0 loss yesterday, the slogan/phrase became, "Phillip, he's gone!"
I cracked up.
It was a lovely dream. Bafana reaches World Cup finals...just imagine.

BAFANA STILL HAVE A CHANCE, IF...

Closer + the play with a black cast

2010-05-07T14:38:00.000+02:00

So a few weeks ago we decided to go see Closer, the stage version...the black version.

For the record, the play came before the movie, Patrick Marber wrote both play and movie. The movie starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owens.

The South African version of the play is directed by Sello Maake ka-Ncube. Apparently he directed the same play ten years ago with an all white cast. This time, Fezile Mpela plays Larry, Sibusiso Radebe is Dan, Linda Sokhulu is Anna, and Lindiwe Matshikiza is Alice.

By far Fezile gets top marks for an excellent performance. Probably better than the movie-Larry, that's for sure. He was hilarious, captivating, alluring...a dreadful character - especially at the end. Totally bought the story.

Thought Matshikiza (who I love) was in a little over her head with Alice. Didn't think she pulled it off at all. Wasn't cute enough (not talking appearance...)...she didn't play innocent well at all. She tried though. Her stripper movies weren't all that convincing either sadly. Whereas the opposite was true for Fezile, you believed that he was a bastard of sourts.

Linda and Sibusiso did worse though. Sibusiso more so than Linda. There was none of that Jude Law charm. Nothing.

Anywho, it was still well worth it. Fezile saved the day - me thinks. You have until Sunday to see it if you are keen. I thought it was fun.

Inception... coming soon

2010-04-24T22:15:00.000+02:00

'The mind is a volatile place, where places can rearrange and people can have power much stronger than in reality, and the complications of the mind can create dreamscapes that can end in mere seconds.' Wikipeadia

Clash of the Titans

2010-04-24T19:46:00.000+02:00

Other than to help you brush up on one’s distorted and limited view of Greek mythology for a game of 30 seconds (I mean really where else would one use this) and to ogle Sam Worthington’s awesomeness and almost have a peak up his skirt, this remake of a very bad movie should probably not have been made.

I wondered why I’d not heard much about this movie and the reason is this… it is not worth seeing and no one wants to put anybody else through the misery so everyone is necessarily forgetting that they’d seen it.

My issues:
Why the hack does Medusa get such a bad rap? It’s not fair that she gets her head chopped off and the pretty princess who could save the day as well by being dead is left unharmed head attached to body. What did Medusa ever do to anybody? Okay fine she turned people to stone but they should have known better than to sexually harass her.

Why the hell did they make it in 3D? It added nothing and the many times that I took my goggles off, it seemed a bit clearer, less irritating to the eye.

It is too loud. Yes I do make use of ear phones and I do put the volume at its maximum but this should not make me more sensitive to noise. There was a lot of noise which just irritated. Mind you I am aware that noise can be an issue for people of a certain age but I enjoyed Terminator Salvation and Star Trek. They were not noisy, they had good sound which added to the enjoyment of the movie. Titans tried to make the effect of the movie to be its loudness and and it failed miserably.

The effects were no better than the original flick. Even in 3D! And having made this in the new decade of the new millennium, this is a disgrace. Pegasus for instance, the winged flying horse. In 1981, it’s flying form may have been a little out there but in 2010, one needs to hire someone who can say, if a horse were to fly, this is how it would do it. Know what I mean? Know what I mean? The legs, after taking flight would neatly fold themselves into its body. The heard would be aligned to its body so that there’s less friction. Something just something to say, we are not just doing a remake of this, we have actually thought about it a little.
All the characters of the movie did not make sense. It was nice to see the stars of Skins but they make a pathetic showing. Effie and Tony (yummy Nicholas Hoult) of Skins, back together again… and they are terrible. They looked so out of place and thought they were still in their skins characters.
All in all, a small disappointment (because expectations were low enough).

Liam Neeson vs Laurens Olivier as the Zeus’s. Both lose. Good foundation for a really epic Lord of the Rings type. And everyone knows a little bit about the subject so Hollywood writers, get a little bit creative will ya? It’s sold, just come up with a decent product.

No spoons…

Oscar nominations

2010-03-06T20:03:00.000+02:00

Rated in the most important categories first... STAR TREK!

Sound editing
Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)
Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)
Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)
Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

Sound mixing
Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)
Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

Visual effects
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)
District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken)
Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

Writing (adapted screenplay)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche)

Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Best picture
Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)
District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, producers)
An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, producers)
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)
Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, producers)
Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)
The Blind Side (Gil Netter, Andrew A Kosove and Broderick Johnson, producers)
Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)

Art direction
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith)
Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)
Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer)
The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

Cinematography
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)
The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)
The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

Foreign language film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

Directing
Avatar (James Cameron)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
Precious (Lee Daniels)

Actress in a supporting role
Mo'Nique in Precious
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger

Actress in a leading role
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Carey Mulligan in An Education

Actor in a leading role
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Costume design
Bright Star (Janet Patterson)
Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
Nine (Colleen Atwood)
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Documentary (feature)
Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)
The Cove (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens)
Food, Inc (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Documentary (short subject)
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill)
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher)
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)
Rabbit à la Berlin (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Film editing
Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
District 9 (Julian Clarke)
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
Precious (Joe Klotz)

Makeup
Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano)
The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)
Music (original score)
Avatar (James Horner)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Up (Michael Giacchino)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Music (original song)
Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36, by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take It All, from Nine, by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short film (animated)
French Roast (Fabrice O Joubert)
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell)
Logoramam (Nicolas Schmerkin)
The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio Gracia)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park)

Short film (live action)
The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)
Kavi (Gregg Helvey)
Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)
The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Precious

2010-03-06T19:50:00.000+02:00

I’ve been dragged by no good friends to watch movies I did not have the inclination to watch, this has been a burden on my movie watchin' soul for a while and it is time, it is time to say what i thought about these no good flicks that have taken 90 minutes of my life. (you would have to imagine me saying the previous in Precious' mother or Sophia from colour purple's voice). It’s Complicated is one of the movies, and Precious is the other. No pleasant surprises in both.

Isn’t it weird how they refer to the movie? In all the award shows I’ve seen so far, they don’t just say Monique for Precious, it’s always: Monique for Precious, based on a book Push by Sapphire. For what? For What?

So yes, went to go see Precious today and my instincts were right. It is depressing. Monique was good but the story is just so horrible and demented with demented characters.

Which brings me to our favourite topic Heartwarmer, here is another ‘black’ movie showing 'black' characters in the worst light and they are being recognised for it? Is this all that we do well? Play abusive people? Drug dealers? Slaves? Bad cops? Black men who drive old crusty white ladies around? Demented dictators of African countries?

Oh no, there is some light at the end of the tunnel because we have, our Madiba, our saviour, our claim to fame. Morgan Freeman has also gotten some recognition for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Invictous. So it is not all lost.

I’ve realised that the key to award recognition (other than shameless lobbying) is to speak to the theme of the current time. To speak to what the 'collective conscious' is experiencing and award shows will recognise. Good examples, Hurt Locker, Iwo Jima, they all spoke to what the west thought of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael Clayton? Corporate advancement at all cost, preceding devastating financial crisis? Up in the air? Financial crisis consequences? Which is why It’s Complicated, spits in America’s face because, who the hell has so much money and is renovating when the property market is in the toilet and banks aren’t giving out loans for frivolous home improvements.

I am rambling. Back to Precious. I did not fall asleep. And I did not cry. Mind you it’s not hard to make be cry. Given my biological clock ticking and all, I find that I cry very easily these days, especially when it comes to children. Precious did not unfortunately touch me in that way.

There are good performances. Look out for Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz as never seen before. Mariah looks like she woke up from a deep sleep and immediately afterwards did her scenes. She was not bad though. Lenny has a weird thing going on with his one eye. I think he has a lazy eye, but he still comes across as supper sexy.

I give Precious, based on a book Push by sapphire, 3 spoons.

Award ramblings

2010-03-04T11:01:00.000+02:00

Up in the air was also oh so tiresome. It is interesting the recognition that this movie is getting. Is it because the movie tells the story of the time? Poor Americans losing their jobs... Clooney is weired in his choices of movies, Micheal Clayton was a similar type but had a different impact on me. Goodnight and good luck was also weired. anywhoo, am not cheering for up in the air.

Woop woop to Hurt Locker for giving us a break at the Bafta's from Avatar mania that we saw at the Golden globes. But the pendulum went too much to the other side me thinks. It won so many awards that you feel is this another over reaction to afghanistan and iraq from the Brits?

Which way will the Oscars go I wonder...

‘It’s Complicated’ is a cliché and a tiresome one at that!

2010-03-04T11:00:00.000+02:00

Romantic Comedies are popular with all of us. When we are stuck at the video shop not knowing what to rent, having seen all the essential must see movies, we always gravitate toward the romcoms, thinking hey, how bad can it be.

The thing is, I think romcoms are doing major damage to our female psyche. That and the fact that the comedy part of it all always fails to deliver should make us all think twice before defaulting to this stupid genre when at the video store.

The damage, (I think the he’s just not that into you commentary was along a similar vein), that these movies do is to allow us to think the outrageous and ludicrous is possible. And you ask, what was so outrageous in ‘It’s Complicated’? The fact that a warm blooded man species with working organ, would lust after a sixty-something year old exwife over a dominatrix-looking twenty-something year old rockhard-bodied current wife. Is this realistic?

Romcoms suck ass.

Personally, give me Reservation Road, Bridges of Madison County, American Beauty and the like anytime.

About Meryl Streep. The woman can do no wrong. Yes she is the greatest actor ever. But what a waste of her talent to play in such movies. I hated Mama Mia. I hated Prime. Meryl, if you want to do something light and fun do it in your own spare time please!

Werewolf

2010-02-18T19:09:00.000+02:00

How lame is the movie title - Wolfman.
Kinda gives you an impression that it is a cheap thrill type. Well it is.
The thrill bit only because it has delicious Bernicio Del Toro.
Yum!
Oh, and also because it has Anthony 'I love playing freaks' Hopkins (sorry, that was somewhat of a spoiler).
There really isn't anything I can say about this movie accept that Bernicio is just...well...you really just want to eat him up. He makes werewolves seem very attractive (oops, another spoiler...maybe...depending on how you look at it), irresistible actually.

Anyway, the lover fell asleep watching this. See, it wasn't cause he was tired...if he'd been tired, he wouldn't have stayed up after the movie (23h00) to watch his favourite English team playing.

Must say seconds into the movie, I knew it would be somewhat lame. Just its first few seconds made the movie seem somewhat cheap. I thought the trailers were pretty good though, hence I opted to see it. Donno...I'd give it one spoon. Three-quarters for Bernicio Babe - he really carried the movie, and the other quarter for Mr Hopkins - he was just funny, he brought some lightness to the scary monster which I thought he played extremely well.

Its the kind of movie that you laugh the scary parts at. There was probably just one scary bit that really freaked me out, but after a while, you just laugh at it all cause its that ridiculous. I don't know, I was left thinking why the heck this movie was made at all. It really didn't add anything new or interesting (okay maybe the werewolf face-off was new...oops, spoiler there), I thought anyway.

If you do see it, tell me what you think.
I CAN'T WAIT FOR ALICE IN WONDERLAND...IN 3D!

The Princess and the frog

2010-01-22T13:38:00.000+02:00

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!

2010-01-22T13:07:00.000+02:00

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

2009-12-23T11:31:00.000+02:00

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

2009-12-22T16:40:00.000+02:00

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

2009-12-04T19:53:00.000+02:00

(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

2009-11-26T22:01:00.000+02:00

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

2009-11-20T21:01:00.000+02:00

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

2009-10-14T19:39:00.000+02:00

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

2009-09-26T23:40:00.001+02:00

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

2009-09-22T19:57:00.001+02:00

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

GROUND ZERO

2009-09-11T22:12:00.000+02:00

Thought it would be too morbid to step off the bus and go through the whole drama/tragedy that was September 11th.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Caster Semenya Story

2009-09-11T17:03:00.000+02:00

I read this incredible book a few months ago whilst on sabbatical (on my couch) and it blew my mind. And as soon as the Caster Semenya story broke a month or so ago I knew the story of the main character was the story of Caster.

Now to get this out of the way, I cringe whenever I hear the word hermaphrodite. Surely the journalist community is wise enough to know that this is a highly offensive term and it is like calling someone a nigger or a morphei or a stabane. The term is used to hurt and demean and should be stricken from any kind of reporting!!!

The correct term is intersexual, but I also think ‘middlesex’ is a little softer, less clinical and ‘androgynous’ a bit more endearing? To me androgynous means flexible and fluid in your identification. Who wants to be just one thing?

During my sabbatical I resolved to start reading all the Pulitzer prize winning novels and Middlesex was therefore on my list. It is a big book but because of the constant drama in the book it is very quick to read and totally engaging.

Middlesex is a story of Calliope and how she came to be and how she eventually found himself and continued to be, ‘in spite but not spiteful’.

The book suggests that the intersexuals develop that way because of a mix of genes that should not have happened. Calliope’s grandparents were brother and sister and I hate to ruin the beginning of the book for everyone reading this but there will be plenty other juicy bits in the book. The premise is that incest is the cause of this… (I don’t want to call it) deformity (because what you get from incest are people that resemble the characters in ‘Deliverance’).

The book proposes that because Calliope’s grandparents sinned when they got together, their punishment would be to have an intersexual grandchild. At least this is what the grandmother believes and she is very superstitious. In the world of the book you kind of buy into that and there is a scientific genetic drawing they do of why this is true.

Outside of the world of the book I am not so sure. Just as I have no capacity to grow eyebrows so too is the capacity to turn out one way or another.

But I get a feeling here in the outside world that Caster is getting punished for something that is not her fault, something that is not a fault, something that should be celebrated as getting closer to the ideal human. The chance to go through life and choose to do it not as a man and not as a woman but as someone far more measured and weighed with both sexes’ characteristics. I think it’s awesome and extremely sexy.

I suppose if Caster were to read this blog I would want her first to read the book, and then to know that she is supper sexy to me.

2009-09-10T22:35:00.000+02:00

HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY - HONEST ADVERTISING!

Sorry

2009-09-02T21:11:00.000+02:00

I've moved from Caoe Town to Jo'burg and have not had the time to watch District 9, GI Joe and the rest. If you are up to discussing it or have watched any interesting flicks lateley, post a comment on this post. Jo'burg sucks ass 20% of the time.

Knowing - the movie

2009-07-13T21:03:00.000+02:00

Like Michael Bay below, has his style, I knew I’d seen the shades and angles in this thriller/sci-fi or sci-fi/thriller flick. Alex Proyas is the dude that came up with the incredible and never-seen-before, ingenuous, darkly refreshing ‘Dark City’ which, at the time (1998), really really blew my mind. A little more wiki-ing and I discover that he is also behind The Crow, also one of my top ten movies ever.

I almost did not watch this movie because I reckoned it was another Nicolas Cage pick which is sometimes just fun to watch but you feel yourself losing a few brain cells for watching them. The premise of ‘Next’ and the embellished-for-dramatic-expedience ‘American history’ of National Treasure left us all a little dumber and I just do not trust Nicolas’ choices.

So because there was a problem with Bruno reel at the cinema () I had to fall back on watching Knowing and I am soooo glad I did.

SPOILER BELOW!!!!

I have very mixed feelings about this movie though, mainly because it tries to cram so many ideas into it that these ideas do not always gel nicely together. There is loss, there is father-son relationships across generations, there is science, there are aliens there is time travel, there is family, there are people that see the future, there are stones and much much more. I am sure when I watch this again, all these bits and pieces will gel but on a first viewing it was too much to piece together.

This is an Armageddon movie, it is about the end of the world and how we as humans would face this prospect if we knew for sure that it was coming.

The movie follows an MIT professor’s discovery of this certainty and his way of dealing with his and the world’s end. This is where the sentimentality of the movie unsettles me a little. I get that sometimes this sentiment is often what is lacking in other flicks where the focus is on the special effects and the exquisite bodies of the lead characters. I get that and I think it was right for Proyas to spend a little time for us connect with these characters. The thing is though, even with this, I was unable to mist up at the end when all the investment is suppose to pay off.

On the other hand the effects in this, like we had in Dark City, are not your every day Michael Bay explosions (I am sorry but I am going to use Mr Bay as a reference for all over the top bad action movies from now on) with no meaning. The big effects scenes were incredible and there was one specific scene that I swear was straight out of my nightmares. I have this recurring nightmare where I actually witness a plane crash and the way that Proyas shot this particular scene instantly took me back to that nightmare of mine. The plane crash scene we see in the previews is spectacular and I thought this would be the highlight of the movie but it was not. Moments following the crash are incredible. Having just had the two recent plane crashes in the real world it is a wonder they did not delay the release of this movie.

Also, there is another nightmare scene where the little boy in the movie sees somebody in his room in the middle of the night and is paralysed unable to scream or run. I am sure you’ve had that dream as well. This scene was so perfectly shot that you instantly remember your own personal nightmares.

So ya, on style, look and feel, Knowing gets 5 spoons. On the idea, premise and plot flow of the movie, I give it 3.

My issues with the movie, The main character of the movie is an MIT professor and he struggles to convince people that the numbers uncovered in the time capsule predict the future. If people do not believe an MIT professor, who the hell is there to believe?! That’s like not believing Einstein if he says the square root of 4 is 2. They should have made the character a high school teacher or something because even in the opening scene, he is suppose to be giving a lecture to MIT students, the lecture was more on the level of philosophical questions for dummies.

BET Awards!

2009-06-29T12:36:00.000+02:00

I'm reading all that good stuff about how all the black artists at the 2009 BET Awards paid a tribute in some form to the kind of pop - MJ...and I'm sitting here wondering why in the hell we never get to see this on the multitudes of channels DSTV has us paying for?
I mean, we get the Oscars, the Grammys...you name it. Why not BET!
Come to think of it, I've been craving to see these awards for as long as I can remember...why don't they show 'em?

There is the slim chance ofcourse that our satellite television providers did show them...and that I just am not in touch with my satellite offering? Brokensword?

I'm reading about how Jamie Foxx (the host) was doing the moon walk and thinking to me self, I NEED to see this me-self!

Terminator Salvation

2009-06-26T19:09:00.000+02:00

I probably was not going to see this film, mainly based on what Barry Ronge and Alan Silverman said on their Sunday morning show a few weeks ago. Barry was saying that it was too loud and they both said too religious. Given their misgivings, whatever they were, I enjoyed it. Much more than I enjoyed the Transformers which they raved about. I think having heard what they had to say I was a little bit prepared for Terminator. I chose the middle seat away from the speakers and opened my mind to whatever religious suggestions there may be.

I must say, this was a cool flick. It was the escape from the MJ tragic and lamented saga I needed. Escape from delayed job offers and my four walls that I needed.

Yes it was loud. Yes it had religious undertones. But that did not spoil it for me. If anything it made the story more solid. The greatest ever told.

And Christian Bale, the Bat Man?? Even with the recorded outburst (and I am kinda thinking this was a preview to the movie? Who knows) on the set, you want to enjoy this flick, you want to see the next installment of the Terminator saga that started with our California governor, who they cleverly replicated (I am sure Arnie did not have anything to do with this movie) to fight another day. I thought (and hope a little) that it was a kind of middle finger to Arnie and his republicans to reproduce him in the movie. After all, they did not reproduce the scariest terminator, that mercury dude. He was scarier than Arnie but not scarier than a Republican led United States. Bush, Arnie, they are the ultimate antagonists.

Suspension of belief is key to enjoying these types of movies. You need to say, yes it is okay that only Arnie was up for the fight against Connor, that the fact that they were and had, manufactured a thousand other Arnies does not fit. You have to let go of the consequences of a father meeting, his yet to be conceived son, in the future. You have to wonder who the little girl is and why Kyle is tied to her. You have to wonder why there would be capital punishment in the future (or was it the past?). All this has to be sacrificed for the enjoyment of the flick and it is, utterly enjoyable.

I give it 3 spoons with much of that going toward the new Terminator, he is just gorgeous!

Oh and Christian also got to ride his bat-cycle again. That was cool this time around as well!

all the single ladies - Vodacom

2009-06-24T20:58:00.000+02:00

I had to tell the world how much I adore this new Vodacom advert. It is truly fantabulous. A true masterpiece. Creative brilliance most especially for its simplicity!

Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-24T18:58:00.000+02:00

What an obscene show of budget! Explosions and fights and explosions and CGI and explosions and for what? For What? There is just so much money oozing out of this blockbluster show-off of a movie that I am beginning to really dislike Michael Bay and his Bruckheimer and his Spielberg backing. Really now… There are, I am sure, 20 indie films that could have been made with a 10th of this $300 million budget and I am sure the indie movies would have had a far more positive, enjoyable and collective sense of ‘whatever’ (fill in to what you think is cosmically appropriate) impact. (Okay so I watched the Screening Room on CNN about struggling African film makers today as well).

Never mind that! We go to the movies to escape and for a film like Transformers 2 (the first one I thought was a bit juvenile) that escape should last the mandatory 90 minutes. Anything beyond that is just too tiring and you start wanting to escape from the escape.

And so, yes, if you’ve seen Michael Bay movies you recognize his signature shots on various movies. You see Pearl Habour, Bad Boys etc. These were huge budget films and in each one there are unique shots that, if you did not know it was a Bay movie, those shots would smack you across the face as if Mr Bay himself was doing the smacking. (I suddenly need to cleanse myself)

Whereas typical movies have that one whimsical, quirky character that provides comic relief, most characters in this movie had that role, which was a little bit lame. The John Turturro character who is looking to die for America at every opportunity but does not manage to meet this demise, the ditzy mother whose role it is to embarrass her son when ever she can and is also an under ground dagga fiend. The cowardly college room mate who has conspiracy theories only to see them realized. The two Autobots painted to parody Chris Tucker’s character in Rush Hour. Even the main character is a kind of a side kick who has a nervous condition that makes every single situation in the movie a life or death one. Pity he did not stay dead in the end.

All in all, I either was going through nicotine withdrawal or I was getting extremely impatient with this movie. I would, nonetheless, discourage people to go see it, there are far worthier films out there (worth your 2.5 hours, if you go see this one you allow Mr Bay to make yet another obscenely over budgeted blockbuster which fills plot with explosions), I am sure of it!

Transformers 2 gets 1 spoon, choo chooing towards my rectum.

If you are thinking of having a Bay festival, here is your definitive list: Bad Boys; The Rock; Armageddon; Pearl Harbor; Bad Boys II and then; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

No ‘Doubt’

2009-06-16T16:50:00.000+02:00

Meryl Streep is master. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is her bitch. Great, great presentation in all aspects.

Not quite understanding nor comprehending this debate, but lets please have a discussion.

I tend to have a very severe and unambiguous view of what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to have a relationship with a minor, but what is minor? It is right to speak up, expose and act against what you deem to be wrong, but is your definition of wrong, right?

The movie was dedicated to a Sister Margaret McEntee, so if this is somehow, reflecting a story that may be true, then this is not a philosophical debate, I would have to, unambiguously, support the actions of the nun. BUT, if this is hypothesis, my feelings would remain clouded, especially, given the boy’s situation at home, positive role model and all that.

This is a significant movie, watch it and ruminate.

Out on DVD, and it gets 4 spoons.

The Secret Life of Bees

2009-06-02T17:27:00.000+02:00

I had my fingers on the keyboard for a while wondering what to say about this movie.
I guess it is one of those that get you all upset because you just can't understand how things could have been that way. How it could have been allowed. It just boggles my mind really.
There's a part where the old white man character says, "is she one of them dumb niggers or is she a clever nigger." When Jennifer Hudson's character answers back she gets a back slap right across her face. When she continues to defy this white man, she gets a couple of kicks and a couple of fists wacked on her face.
It is infuriating.
We've come a long way but for me that history, that it exists at all infuriates me. How could that time have existed at all?

I loved Sophie Okonedo in this. Her character is just the way I feel some times. Just so very sad and disappointed with the world that some of the things that happen, happen. So many injustices, all of it can be so overwhelming sometimes that you kind of feel like you want to leave this world. I loved her character.
I loved everybody in this movie. Alicia Keys can act, she was spectacular I thought...atleast for a musician. And Dakota Fanning is so grown in this movie.
Two and a half spoons

Nazi Movie

2009-05-30T15:18:00.000+02:00

I am always reluctant to watch war movies especially Nazi movies. Specifically though, Nazi movies from the Nazi perspective. Somehow I am just not interested in their experience, their thought processes, the reasons why Hitler triumphed in that time. To me (and I do realise that, put in the same position I don’t know if I could pass the test but think my humanity should always be my guide) these movies want us to consider some of the other dynamics that were taking place when crimes against humanity were being committed. I don’t want to know, if knowing urges me to forgive a little. If anything I think the focus should remain on the horribleness of the era and recognise each and every situation (that would make us bigots or racist) for what it is and rage against it.

I’ve seen Valkyrie and the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and I think, it is not enough. Hitler still happened. These movies seem a little distasteful to me.

I suppose the same can be applied to the whole Rwanda tragedy. Shooting Dogs and Hotel Rwanda. There aren’t much films that focus on Rwanda and I think there still needs to be more if anything to educate. No one disputes the WW2 and the Jewish genocide that took place. Everyone knows about the concentration camps and the other atrocities that took place. Not enough stories have been told however about the atrocities that took place on our continent and that, in itself, is a continuing crime against humanity.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and Valkyrie are out on DVD.

Pan’s Labyrinth

2009-05-27T23:22:00.001+02:00

I can't remember if I ever blogged about this movie. I really enjoyed it. Love fantasy types.
Wondering if Brokensword ever saw it, and what she thought of it. It's so depressing, my heart...well I really felt sorry for Ophelia/Ofelia. And for a while I thought that creature was taken her for a ride. All's well that ends well.
4 Spoons

Angels and Demons

2009-05-14T19:46:00.000+02:00

I was never a fan of Dan Brown. I read the Da Vinci Code and watched the movie. The book was the only one of his that I managed and have no qualms about that. Dan created a world that I simply was not interested in and the conclusions he made I know I do not have the knowledge, (nor am I inspired to know more) to argue with the absurdity of it.

Angels and Demons is the next movie installment on this with reputable Ron Howard’s direction (fatally limited to the sequence of events of the book) and starring Tom Hanks and a bunch of Italian gorgeousness.

The movie starts off with the death of the Pope and this takes us to the workings of the Catholic Church and what actually happened in real life when the then Pope kicked the bucket. It also very nicely weaves into the story the debate on the implications of the recent experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, which took place in Switzerland a few months ago when scientists were trying to recreate the conditions just prior to the big bang.

I don’t know if these bits were actually in the book, as I said, I did not have the inclination to go into another Dan Brown universe, but it is clever that they brought it into the movie to make the debates being had more relevant to our world.

The movie is the race-against-time type movie following clues that have been there for a few centuries. The protagonist (the Illuminate) is threatening to kill cardinals that the next Pope will be chosen from. To add to that once they are all dead, the big bang experiment will be used to blow up the Vatican so that the Catholic Church is destroyed along with it. The Illuminate are a group of guys who were Catholic but also believed in science and believed that the two could coexist and did not have to be at odds. So this is all supposed to be very suspenseful and most revealing about the history and workings of the Catholic Church, much like the Da Vinci Code.

The movie is interesting and I am sure it will give a lot of comfort to the believers amongst us out there. It ends off saying that religion, the church, is not perfect as man is not perfect. I’ll buy that. And it is a good lesson to learn but why does the church not learn fast enough that there is a need for contraception and abortion. On the other hand, there is also a need for pure faith and tradition so as not to lose ourselves in modernity. What is the saying? I’d rather die for an idea I believe in than to live for an idea that will die?

Angels and Demons gets 2 spoons.

WILL I AM is in X-Men Origins :Wolverine!

2009-05-08T19:19:00.000+02:00

That's all anybody needed to say to me to get me to watch this movie. I must be a little out of touch, I had no idea. So imagine my surprise. I almost jumped up and down. Ah Willl, sweet Will, sexy Will...

So there's been a lot of bed crits on this here movie. I didn't think it was all THAT bhard. Don't think it was a waste of me money. Would do it all over again if I was asked.

Its not the best of movies either. I don't get what the craze is with these pre-quals. I remember Hannibal Rising and what a big disaster that was. Can't say I know of any successful prequals. Brokensword?

The movie is about Wolverine's origins, and goes back to his childhood - not for long though. I found that particularly disappointing as I thought they could have better developed his story as a teenager growing up alas, the movie is about a grown up Wolverine.They don't even tell the story of how he became what he became. They ignore that. So you never get to know how the mutants became such really.

Don't want to spoil it too much for you, so this is where I will end. I loved one of the characters. that appears towards the ends. Wonder if they'll develop his story in future XMen.

Also realised that XMen is so Heroes....or the other way round.
1 and three quarter spoons

Star Trek

2009-05-08T18:38:00.000+02:00

The cast:
James T. Kirk - Chris Pine (did not know him before this but he’ll do)
Spock - Zachary Quinto (Sila in Heroes, his wooden acting is perfect for this role)
Spock - Leonard Nimoy (Naturally!)
Nero - Eric Bana (The hulk was goooodddd)
Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy - Karl Urban (also don’t know him but he was brilliant)
Nyota - Uhura Zoe Saldana (chick in one of those teen dancing movies, she is sexy enough to live up to Uhura’s legendary sexiness)
Scotty - Simon Pegg (Genius!!!)
Hikaru Sulu - John Cho (also genius)
Pavel Chekov - Anton Yelchin (don’t remember this character well but the kid was good)
Amanda Grayson - Winona Ryder (She plays Spock’s mom, is she that old?)
Tyler Perry also has a small role in the movie!

I was always more into the Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) rather than the original Star Trek. I suppose being born at the time that I was, it was only natural that I connected more with the series that was current at the time that I was growing up. But with this new installment, I am now able to buy into the original.

More than that though, when I compare the two, I always found that TNG always seemed to be more cerebral, more philosophical than the original which was more brawn. The villain of TNG always posed a more terrifying threat. You were not just going to get physically hurt when you took them on, there were far reaching consequences, like getting assimilated. When the enemy tells you that resistance is futile, where do you go to with that? And those episodes with Species xxx (forgot the number), resistance is futile, they could assimilate you and change the history of human kind.

So yes, Star Trek has gone young and I think they seem to be wooing the generation I love to loath, those teenyboppers who let there be 100 scream movies, final destinations and Saws etc. But they luckily caught me in the net along with them (I think I was never young, I was born old and sometimes resent the young for some of the shenanigans they get up to that I never did).

It is a very solid cast with a semi solid story (I still don’t understand how old Spock and young Spock can meet. How can they both occupy the same time and space???). the special effects are great but it is not the focus of the movie. The set is so much brighter than the original set. I suppose the original set could not have huge amounts of light because the technology to make you buy into it being a space ship was just not there. There is far less orange in this new movie and everything and everyone is lit perfectly. I dig that.

So the movie basically tells how the relationships began and it is believable. Here is a spoiler, pointy ears is boinking the comms expert. How sexy is that? Although I did not pick up on the chemistry in the TV series, not that I watched it religiously, the link is totally justified. TNG always had inter-co-worker-relationships, why can’t the original season?

Star Trek gets 4 spoons. It loses one because of this April fool’s joke: Check it out: http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2009/4/startrekgoesgay. And I believed it, how stupid am I?

Milk

2009-05-02T19:35:00.000+02:00

Best Actor - Sean Penn – Milk
And he was up against:
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I think possibly, the category should be split between best real life character interpretation and best interpretation of a fictional character. Because really, how can one compare the performance of Anthony Hopkins’s Nixon and Hannibal Lector? Both monsters but also, both totally different performances drawn from totally different places.

The movie was interesting, but I remain not a big fan of the real-life-true-story dramas. Name a truly great real life movie, and I will probably not have enjoyed it. There is more poetry, philosophies to live by and real life strife in stories that are just not true.

Have to give it up for James Franco who is really flexing his acting muscle. Pineapple Express was the chronic shit and now this. I look forward to seeing him again in what ever he is in. I am enjoying the choices he is making.

He’s just not that into you

2009-05-01T15:39:00.001+02:00

I remember seeing this dude on Oprah a couple of years ago and he had some interesting insights into what men do and how women should interpret these messages.

I was therefore surprised that these insights would be turned into a movie.

It also surprised me that the movie would conclude that the insights are all .subject to exception.

The rules

• He's just not that into you if he's not asking you out
• He's just not that into you if he's not dating you
• He's just not that into you if he's having sex with someone else
• He's just not that into you if he's not calling you
• He's just not that into you if he's disappeared on you

One of the main characters gets these insights from a bar tender who turns into a love interest for her. The barman lives by these rules and eventually buckles under his own rules. The point of the movie?... Disregard everything that has been said prior and hang on to whatever misinterpreted, misplaced signal inadvertently made.

Us women are so stupid, and made even stupider by these kinds of movies.

White Wedding

2009-04-30T12:00:00.002+02:00

It is always a good thing that among a pile of mediocrity, one finds some positive aspect to focus on. I struggle sometimes. I struggled here and failed hopelessly. It is also good that if you have nothing good to say you should just shut up. I am failing hopelessly here too.

Yes, so I went to see White wedding last night. The biggest…, well the only laugh I had was the reaction of the audience to an interracial kiss. One guy actually said Hayibo!. My friend sitting next to me said, ‘oh, that’s just wrong’. It is after all 2009 and it amazed me that an interracial kiss still brings out that cringe reflex in us.

Safe to say that the movie gave me nothing to blog home about. And why do I bother? I bother because I also believe that constructive criticism can only help. South African movies are crap. It gives me no pleasure to say this as I really really want South African movies to step it up a notch. My favourite ‘South African’ movie remains Cry the Beloved Country. It was a beautiful movie based on a beautiful book, but it too would probably not feature on my all time top 10 favourites.

I think the problem with South African movies, other than the limited imagination and wooden characters, and lack of finesse and… okay, there is a lot wrong with it but for this particular movie I think the problem was the casting. Over and over again we see the same people in South African movies. There is an inability to cast outside of what we see in the daily soaps and television shows. It seems to be a very closed industry where new faces are incredibly hard to find. The same faces are squeezed into characters that, because they can not pull them off, they make them in their own image. Does that make sense?

The basic story line, it is a road trip movie. A groom-to-be needs to get to his wedding from Jo’burg to Cape Town. He needs to make a few stops along the way and one of them is an experience that I think most of us have had. They stop in a baie Afrikaans dorp where the bar is flying the old South African flag. I had that experience once, between Cape Town and Johannesburg. The dorpie was Leeu Gamka and it was a tragically comedic experience!

So most of us will identify with the various scenarios presented in the movie but the thing is, stating the obvious does not necessarily make for poignant story telling.

Discoveries: Dr Who and its amazing spin off Torchwood

2009-04-14T18:57:00.004+02:00

So, I’ve never really been into the British sci fi. They always have poor effects. As good as the stories can be, their translation onto the screen tends to come across as a little amateurish compared to the big budget sleeker American versions of them. But I suppose as their effects budget tends to be lacking, they have to work that much harder on the story and the characters. Look at the hilarious ‘Sean of the dead’ and ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. Okay, these two are the ones that immediately come to mind so I googled ‘British sci fi movies’ and the results produced:
Quatermass and the Pit,
Day of the Triffids,
Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun,
The Day The Earth Caught Fire.

I’ve not even heard of these titles, but I will now make a point to find them and watch them.

Back to the subject at hand, 2009 has brought for me exposure to all the BBC DSTV channels and through this, I have discovered Dr Who and now, what has become my favourite thing on TV since hhhmmmm, Heroes?

Dr Who is one of those serieses that have been on air forever. In that time there’ve been about 10 actors that have portrayed the lead character who regenerates every single time to become, The Doctor. Currently on BBC Entertainment, the Doctor is being played by David Tennant whose appearance goes against everything a leading man should be. He is thin, tall and nerdy looking. The premise of the series is really that The Doctor is a time lord, is from a planet far far away and his race was killed off by their mortal enemy the Daleks. He travels the universe in a telephone booth called the Tardis, and has human companions, currently Martha Jones. He also has another companion called Captain Jack Harkness who is a Time Agent. He, is the hook that got me into this whole thing.

Torchwood is a spin off of Dr Who, Captain Jack puts together a team in Cardiff (situated right in the middle of a time/space rift, which makes it prone to having visitors from another time and space) to battle supernaturals in the area. Captain Jack is sometimes described as an omnisexual as opposed to bisexual, basically, he will do anything.

I suppose what I love the most about this series is that it is funny, gory, sexy, clever. And although the special effects leave a lot to e desired, the story lines make up for it 10 times. Take for example this one episode titled, the CountryCide. Very suspenseful and concludes that with everything that they’ve battled in the past, humans take the cake in being the most evil species. My personal favourite so far was the episode ‘Captain Jack Harkness’, very romantic.

Torchwood’s last episode of season one aired this past Sunday and I don’t see series 2 on the schedule. Dr Who on the other hand continues and airs on Sunday nights at 7pm. Its just the thing to get you going for the week ahead!

A vampire for all seasons…

2009-04-06T20:33:00.003+02:00

My season, my vampire, was Louis, never a part of, but always observing and envious of the world that he could never be a part of again. Interview with a Vampire, envisaged by Anna Rice, also through a few of the other tales aptly known as the vampire chronicles. And… much respect to the woman for disagreeing with the choice for Tom Cruise to play the Vampire Lestat! The role needed a much more believable omnisexual, maybe Ralph Fiennes? Maybe Daniel day Louise. Surely any of these guys would have been a little more open to some 'bromance'?

But there is a new version that is emerging, going after the feeling of teenage angst and not belonging. A little bit dangerous for the time that we are living in…

So yes, tonight, I watched Twilight and mourned my Louis and Lestat and Armand who were my ultimate dark lords and who seem to be now replaced by younger, more heterosexuals immortals that to replicate their humanity as much as possible. The guys can even come out in broad day light!?

But let’s take a step back. Yes I watched Twilight and yes it was not immediately repulsive.

The step back is to the beginning of moving pictures. When Vampires, at least in our 2009 standard were repulsive and totally unattractive! Nosforatu, who gave us that iconoclastic image of what it should be to be a vampire, unattractive, animal and totally dejected for what it is to be human.

My next memory would be Bela Lugosi who I came to know through a little film called Gods and Monsters. Those images are not real for us anymore except maybe for those film appreciation classes that you one has to through in film school.

Gary Oldman, as Dracula, DRA-CU-LA! Scary shit! But also very interesting cinematic event. This particular vamp movie will always have a special place in my movie subconscious! As scary as it was it remains one of the ultimate vampire movies because it over rides my personal proclivity to the sexual ambiguity, because that, in itself will pass and be replaced by a far sexier combination of the species.

I jump now to the Wes Craven’s and the Quinton Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn. Hilarious and horrible at the same time. Tarantino is a genius but his take on the old Vampire, the undead genre, was not that fulfilling for me. It made me laugh but not much else. I have to admit that I’ve not had the chance yet to go through the Wes Craven ones.

And then there was I am Legend. The supposed to be, ‘Thinking man’s’ ultimate vampire movie. But the thing for me is, yes, you can fathom ways that the undead can be digitally made to be scarier? But I somehow think that jump has been coming for a while and so I will not jump if I get surprised, I will know that it is coming.

Interview with the Vampire, Daniel as Lestat (but if tm cruise is reading this, he di not do a bad job) is what I am waiting for...

On Twilight… yeah okay, next…. Three spoons.

Marley and Me

2009-03-25T22:16:00.002+02:00

Have I written the fact that I totally adore Jennifer Aniston down on this blog? Well there you have it. I didn't care much for her in the Friends series I'm afraid, it was more her real life heartbreak that made me warm up to her.
ANYWAY!
So I went to watch a movie I probably would never watch had I been the only person deciding what to watch that night. I have the misfortune of having a different taste in movies to the people I end up watching movies with. So Marley and Me it was. I prepared myself for it well enough. Knew not to expect much. Imagine my shame when an hour later there I was with tears rolling down my cheaks.

I think my weeping during movies will soon be declared a non event. I bee could die and I'd be balling my eyes out. Needless to say, I enjoyed the movie. Worse, I want a dog because of it.

I'm not a dog person. I suppose it is because we never owned one at home. My liking for the kay-nines actually began to develop a couple of months ago when I met the cleanest and calmest dog in my entire life. Mystique's her name and she's a grey hound. She's a little clumsy, but she's so cute and so easy to just love. Watching Marley and Me kind of rekindled that closet dog lover in me and now I know I must have one...they must prepare you well enough for parenthood no?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-03-01T13:28:00.003+02:00

Hhhhhhmmmmmm. I am on a mission to watch most of the Oscar films; so, high expectations have been set.

The thing with hype is that you expect more than you should. A perfect story builds and gets woven in your mind and when you see what is really being offered, your mind’s knitting is always better. This is the case. This is always the case. And it is the case with Benjamin.

A man that is born old and ages in the opposite direction. This premise in itself should give loads of opportunity for fantastic philosophy and ideas. And I experimented with these ideas and wondered what fantasies the movie would take me to.

Alas, I was bogged down by stupid detail that just did not make sense to me in my own little mind.

On the movie itself I would like to say, that this was probably made for Brad Pitt. For him to make his mark before time took a toll on his fans, on his looks on his career. This is probably a career highlight for Mr Pitt as he did get THE Oscar nod. Who the hell else could play a gorgeous 20/21st century Adonis? What would stupid movies like Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black be without Mr Pitt?

The guy has a place in history, just like Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, he is it, and does not need to work too hard to get my own personal nod. So long as he plays pretty. So you can probably imagine that the suedo old guys he played in Babel was very confusing for me.

Back to the Benjamin Button, the short and nasty is that, I was not moved, I really, really did not like Cate Blanchette in this. That American accent that she thinks she’s got to a T is really really irritating.

That was the first barrier, the second was that, at the back of my own small mind I was, really, through out the movie, playing out scenes of when this script was pitched to the Hollywood execs. So the creatives had the idea to have a guy that ages backward, great, lovely. But no, we need to have more fillers around the story, how about a war, oh yeah, the WW2 we could reference that. And oh, how about black people, yeah we need black people. New Orleans! and we can play out a bit of the foreboding before Katrina hit, cool. Mind you we cannot have And Oh, we need a story that weaves a thread through the movie, my cousin was hit by lightning once why don’t we use that?. Cool, we can say seven times and bring that in the movie every time we think the audience is starting to get bored. Just for a wake up laugh you? And oh, lets just disregard logic as well. I mean if the guy had to start from old age, the fact that you absorb most things when you are young is totally irrelevant. The fact that one’s brain should match one’s age is stupid, we are going to say, as you get older, you get more stupid, in Benjamin, as you get older you get less interesting because we can’t really show your torso so we are going to make you dumb.!

Okay, enough, that was an irrational rant. But that was an irrational movie. It was! The fact that it got to Oscar level is just sad.

No spoons!

Oscar Nominations and Winners

2009-02-25T12:06:00.001+02:00

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Frost/Nixon
o Milk
o The Reader

Best Director - Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
o David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Stephen Daldry – The Reader
o Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
o Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
o Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
o Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
o The Reader – David Hare

Best Foreign Language Film - Departures (Japan) in Japanese – Yojiro Takita
o Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew – Ari Folman
o Revanche (Austria) in German – Götz Spielmann
o The Class (France) in French – Laurent Cantet
o The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German – Uli Edel

Best Actor - Sean Penn – Milk
o Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
o Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
o Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
o Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
o Josh Brolin – Milk
o Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
o Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
o Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Actress - Kate Winslet – The Reader
o Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
o Angelina Jolie – Changeling
o Melissa Leo – Frozen River
o Meryl Streep – Doubt

Best Supporting Actress - Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
o Amy Adams – Doubt
o Viola Davis – Doubt
o Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Original Screenplay Milk – Dustin Lance Black
o WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
o Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
o Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
o In Bruges – Martin McDonagh

Best Animated Feature WALL-E – Andrew Stanton
o Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
o Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

The Oscars

2009-02-24T13:56:00.001+02:00

So I have DSTV now. This means that I was able to watch the Oscars.

Been a while since…

It has probably been about 10 years since I last watched the Oscars. I use to be obsessed with award shows. One of my best memories I have of Varsity Res is Oscar evening. Any award shows actually tended to be quite an event for me. Some people love watching sports, my spectator sport was award shows. And yes, I would swear and shout just as baldly as a sports fan whose team is losing or winning, and I would shed a tear for moments like when Tom Hanks won for Forrest Gump or when Forrest Whitaker was nominated for the Crying Game.

It had been a while and I think maybe I needed that break to grow up a little and get excited about things a little closer to home.

Award shows…

One of the main reasons for getting DTSV was for the Award shows. It was a pity that the first that I got to see was the Golden Globes. What a waste. What an utter waste of time. I could only stand about 20 minutes of it. They had no interest in entertaining, it felt like they thought that if start were announcing the winners, that would be enough entertainment. Wrong. I also could not watch the Grammy’s because I don’t know 90% of the people performing or giving awards. I don’t care if this makes me sound old and bitter about not keeping up with what’s hot. The sound is also horrible, I mean they had Stevie Wonder singing with some boys and he really sounded excruciatingly horrible.

So I had lost interest in award shows and started questioning whether I should pay the subscription fees for the stupid DSTV for the next months. I watch DVD’s most of the time. The only other thing I watch religiously is Top Gear. …and the BBC Lifestyle Channel and BBC Knowledge. …Torchwood. … Dr who. …

An evening to remember…

I was watching disk 4 of Queer as Folk (third time) when I realized that it was Oscar night. Kicked myself for missing about 40 minutes of the show after 2 minutes of switching over.

As I said, I have not been watching the previous year’s shows but with this one, 2 minutes into it, I started feeling the same joy (yes, joy) I use to feel. The same excitement, I was emotionally invested, it had me at: ‘ and the Oscar goes to…’.

This is a different kind of ceremony from the others. Hugh Jackman, WOLVERINE was the host. What happened to David Letterman, or Whoopi or Billy Chrystal or Jon Stewart. I don’t know, but it was not a bad move to not have a comedian. It may have been a stroke of genius. We already know that Hollywood can make fun of itself and it is usually same jokes different targets every year (except for Goerge Bush maybe). So it was kind of a breath of fresh air to Hugh present, and the guy can sing and dance too! Oh Wolverine!

I think part of the fun of the Oscars is to see the stars up there on a beautiful stage wearing beautiful gowns and just looking brilliant. A huge part of the fun is actually laughing your ass off to find out that these guys actually cannot read. You wonder how the fuck do they get through scripts and make movies. James Bond cannot read, Sophia Loren should have worn her reading binoculars the woman must be 90, Robert Fucking De Niro (Are you talking to me?) can’t read. It was fun to watch and to know hey, they have disabilities, speech impediments and learning issues too! Ha!

A flame rekindled…

But I loved the Oscars. These Oscars in particular and not because they seemed like the Bollywood awards (big up India!), were really great. It was a beautiful production. It was an amazing production.

One of the moments that I shamefully look forward to at the Oscars is when they show the dead guys. Queen Latifah has always been cool. But that was a beautiful song she sang. And it was beautiful when she said that to most of us the dead guys are just movie stars but to her and her colleagues, they are friends and mothers and sisters etc. I felt a little bit ashamed of myself there. She sang so sweetly. But I wondered why they did not show Heath Ledger, is it too soon? Did I miss him?

So yes the production was brilliant. I was feeling very down about what had been coming out of tinsel town of late. Watching the Oscars, I was tempted to call in sick and spend the day at the movies watching one after another, like I use to do. The first one would be Milk, then Slumdog, then Benjamin Button, then the Reader, then the Wrestler, then… actually all of the movies nominated for direction, male and female lead, film, and script. I will begin my adventure this weekend.

Previous winners honouring nominated ones was an especially special touch I thought!

The thing about Mickey Rourke…

So Heartwarmer, the thing about Mickey Rourke is that he did 9½ weeks about 20 year ago. One of the most erotic movies of that time, he was gorgeous, he was the it guy, he had it all. And then, he developed the Michael Jackson Syndrome I think. Is it called Body dysmorphic disorder? The guy has had so much plastic surgery that it is very difficult to look at him. He has a look like a puza face that has been stretched to its maximum. I need to see this wrestler. But it looks very difficult to watch. He is just freaky.

But when is the dvd release date?

I hate that I missed 40 minutes. Do video shops carry award shows? I’ve never seen them, will have to talk to my video store. I am already having a vision of renting out the shows from 10 years ago, that would be a magical weekend.

Seven Pounds

2009-02-24T11:42:00.005+02:00

The only thing I can really say about this movie, which stars Will Smith, is that it is probably the most depressing movie I have EVER seen in my entire life.
You know sometimes you go to a movie and its sad, and you find yourself with tears rolling down your face. That's not this movie. This movie made me sob. As in, "heeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeee." It was so sad, I cried all the way home from the cinema.
Seriously!
I didn't have a clue what the movie was about. Just kinda picked it because it starred Will Smith, and its something both the lover and I agreed we'd like to see. Perhaps it is because I didn't know what it was about that I found it so heartbreaking. So I'm not going to give you a synopsis on it. Just go see it if you are in the mood for a good cry. Bring lots and lots of tissues with you.
2 spoons

Beauty and the beast

2009-02-01T21:42:00.000+02:00

2009, SA, and the only character for a black man in a fairy tale is Lefur, Gaston’s monkey. This put a sour taste in my mouth and ruined the show for me. Do not see it.

Wondrous oblivion

2009-01-31T22:42:00.000+02:00

This is not meant to be a title of a movie. It is a state of mind. One to avoid, one, in a fucked up way, that lets you know you are alive, you are capable of feeling, even though those feels will most certainly be unrequited. I suppose there is something romantic about it, that is something to hang on to.

DVD night

2009-01-28T10:05:00.002+02:00

Had a girl's DVD night on Saturday. Out of all three: The Great Debaters, Mama Mia and Kung Fu Panda, I'd have to say Kung Fu Panda gets my vote - no doubt.
I slept through Mama Mia. The Great Debaters just re-awakened a hate and anger I feel everytime I watch such types. You know what I mean, the era when they would write on benches "whites only". You know the story and you've seen plenty movies like this. For some the focus is swimming, some it is football, for this movie it is debating. I remember Oprah made a big deal about this movie, I suppose she would since she is one of the producers (I think).
But it is really not all that fascinating or interesting from a political point of view. The best part of it, in my opinion ofcourse, is the romance between the debaters and just how some of the characters mature in the movie. Its certainly nothing gripping - I'd say wait for it on DSTV rather than pay extra money to watch it on DVD.

Mama Mia...I think I need to give it another chance really because it wasn't so much that it was bhard that I slept through it, but it really was because I was tired. Mind you I managed to wake up and watch Kung Fu Panda till the end and loved it. So...okay, give Mama Mia a miss too. But Kung Fu Panda is worth a watch.
And the spoons:
Great Debaters 1 spoon
Mama Mia! half a spoon
Kung Fu Panda two spoons.

Best ever performance by a scientologist!!!

2009-01-23T22:27:00.000+02:00

The best laugh I’ve ever had this year. I need people to guess which movie I am talking about because I am not going to name it. I am not going to list the ridiculously, hilariously vein popping funny guys in this movie. All I am going to say is that it is on dvd at the moment (23 January 2009). And you need to tell me who the surprisingly, side splitting hysterical (my neighbors are wondering what the hell is going on in this flat) guy in this movie that made me laugh so hard was. I challenge you. What a breath of nitrous oxide!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2009-01-07T13:36:00.005+02:00

I love this line: Unfulfilled love is the most romantic form of love there is. I know it isn't earthshattering stuff, but it just rang soooooooooooo true for me. Its like the tragedies that Shakespear wrote. They are only that good, and you only love them so much because there isn't that typical happy ending.

There is a lot of that in Vicky Christina Barcelona. A lot of it. Untypical love. Or is non-typical? I will watch anything with Scarlett Johanssen (or Keira Knightley - she's such a tease, can't wait for the Duchess). I loved Penelope Cruz in this. She was so passionate, and sexy, and dangerously nuts. Hehehehe. Javier Bardem was awesome. He was scary in No Country for Old Men, but is oh so yummy here...in a very...erm...artistique way. The other lead actress, Rebecca Hall, was so very, very disappointing. But nevermind her this movie is a must see. Its a story of passion and how even the strongwilled or strongminded end up givin in to, almost as if its only natural to, this demon (PASSION). It is a story about love, untypical love, and how we can so easily find ourselves in and out of love with people and things we never imagined possible. Most of all I think it demonstrates how the human heart's desires can never be fulfilled. That has always been the scary bit about life and love for me.

Synopsis
Two young American women, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) come to Barcelona for a summer holiday. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is sensible and engaged to be married; Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is emotionally and sexually adventurous. In Barcelona, they're drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter, who is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). Set against the luscious Mediterranean sensuality of Barcelona, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' is Woody Allen's funny and open-minded celebration of love in all its configurations.
SOURCE: www.moviefone.com

21

2009-01-07T13:19:00.003+02:00

It has been a very, very long time since I've seen a vaguely entertaining movie...picked by the lover.
He did good this time. I mean the movie 21 isn't 'all that' - but I'll tell you this much, its probably the best one the lover's ever picked in our almost decade together.

I do believe that I will watch any movie Kevin Spacey is in and love it regardless. I had a similar love for Laurence Fishburne, but that was many moons ago and he was slimmer then and younger. He's not as big a drawcard for me, even after 21.

I suppose the thing about this movie, and my enjoyment of it is that it was completely unexpected. The lover normally picks movies where there is a lot of shooting and running, and blood, or bombs, and submarines, nuclear reactions....hahahah, you get my drift. It is more about the action with him, and less about the story. So, like I said before, this was a nice surprise.

What is it all about you ask?
Looking for a way to pay for tuition, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs, intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards, Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now, his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.
SOURCE: www.sonypictures.com

Kevin plays the loveable bad guy so well. You just can't help but love him, and the same is true for this movie. Bits of this felt a bit like the Oceans X movies and for some reason I didn't like those much. 21 has the same kind of story I suppose, here we just deal with a younger group of dwindlers and they don't really do anything illegal. Its worth a watch - 2 and a half spoons.

Festive Season DVD Guide

2008-12-18T18:24:00.002+02:00

Festive Season DVD Guide

Justice Malala uses the following ratings of restaurants for his reviews on FM. I will use the same, props to Justice. I am on leave and therefore had the opportunity to listen to a full Ride Direko show today.

To avoid / Robert Mugabe OR OR OR Jacob Zuma:

Mama Mia – other than Meryl Streep’s take on the ‘winner takes it all’ this was very painful to watch. Peirce Brosnan deserves special mention here. He was really, really, really awful!

Must see / Barack Obama:

In Bruges – I never really got Collin Farrell, his performance in this particular movie gave me a glimpse into his ability and he does have it. All he needed was to play a Guy Ritchie type character. Fantastic movie!

WALL-E – one of the best! For you, for kids, it is just so sweet. It’s funny that these days the best romantic comedies are usually the Shrek’s and the Walle’s and Beaty and the Beast. No Meg Rian, no Julia Roberts. Thank God!

Horton Hears a Who – Jim Carrey is the, no, my (!) comedy Guru, but this is also just a great feel good movie.

So and so… Kgalema (which is also, I am happy to announce, a name in my family! Go Kgalema!!!)

You don’t mess with the Zohan – cringe funny. Can't really decide.

Swing Vote – ya ya. Preach, preach.

Please feel free to add to the list and use either obama or mugabe or Kgalema to rate the DVD's! OR you can use spoons.

Not the movie of the week

2008-12-17T19:16:00.002+02:00

I watched some Martin Lawrence movie two days ago and it was so bad I almost cried. I can't blame the lover for this one, it was my pick. I wanted something very light, and something funny...you know, just wanted something I would enjoy without having to think too hard and so on.
Well, the movie was light but not a inch of humour...atleast nothing that I found particularly funny.

The movie was so bad, I can't even remember what it was called. It was so bad, I'm glad I don't remember what it was called so none of you will ever get to watch it - even if it was to confirm how pathetic it was. This is the second time I've watched a really, really bad Martin Lawrence movie and I have now vowed to boycott all his movies.

The only movie I thorougly enjoyed that he made was Bad Boys, but I think that was more about Will than about Martin? I reckon he should've rather stuck to his sitcom? But I wonder if the supposed jokes there would have been outdated too by my standards of what is funny. I think his biggest problem is that he hasn't been able to reinvent himself...much like Eddie Murphy in my mind. But he even had Dreamgirls atleast.

I mean Will did the whole reinvention successfully playing all his super-hero parts. Jamie Foxx did it in multiple roles. Heck, even Queen Latifah isn't half bad.

Anywho, here's to the end of watching Martin Lawrence on screen

The Day The Earth Stood Still

2008-12-17T19:10:00.001+02:00

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Director Scott Derrickson
Starring: Keanu Reeves … Klaatu
Jennifer Connelly ... Helen Benson
Kathy Bates ... Regina Jackson
Jaden Smith ... Jacob Benson
John Cleese ... Professor Barnhardt

Not so great. That is it, that is all.

I suppose if Al Gore wanted to get an even wider audience he would have gotten Neo from the Matrix to do a public service announcement. It does not make sense, the alien should have gotten the message about the good side of the human race as soon as he tried to touch Jennifer Collelly’s hand when he landed! The fact that she reached out to an alien race when she knew nothing should have been more than enough. Did not see the original but now I see O did not miss much. National Geographic channel, or World Wildlife Fund or maybe even Greenpeace made this movie! Spot on with the message but how dumb do you think we are?

One other small thing I want to mention about this movie, Jaded Smith is going to grow up thinking he is gay with that hair style, It is cute but it is so gay.

Lionel Ritchie

2008-12-01T23:26:00.002+02:00

Just in case you were wondering what ever happened to the Lionel Ritchie SA concert post...well, it's a rather sad story really.
For some silly reason I just thought that computicket would just keep two special tickets for me.
For some silly reason they didn't.
So there I was on Wednesday afternoon...very confidently might I add - walked into the MTN store which also doubles up as a computicket outlet.
"Won't you hand me over my tickets," I said boldly to the man behind the counter. Mind you I was very impatient. He made me wait a good ten minutes while he helped a customer with something to do with MTN. Tsk, tsk...turns out I was late. SOLD OUT was Lionel Ritchie.
I feel like such an idiot. I spoke about this concert for weeks. Anybody who had come in contact with me in the last couple of weeks/months would know I was planning on going to see Mr Dancing on the Ceiling.
Argh. Its over now.
My lover has promised that we'll go see him overseas wherever he will perform next.
Yeh right!

Let me just add another quick note.
I hear everybody...well, all the big time bloggers (if you know what I mean) going on about this American blogger delegation and I keep thinking - WHAT IS THE BLOODY BIG DEAL ABOUT Americanos roaming our lands? Its like making a big deal out of journalists visiting this place. For the what? Argh...I just don't get why they are so important. They are mere mortals really...bloggers actually. Like...who cares?

Anyway, my vent for the day.
Till next time.

A great book idea!

2008-11-24T21:03:00.005+02:00

First, I must apologise to my fellow team blogger. You see, we made a bet a couple of weeks ago. I put my money on McCain, and she on Obama.
The loser was to write a post atleast once a week. I haven't done that.
I suppose I could promise to write atleast two blog posts a week for the next four weeks.
So there you have it brokensword.
I already know what my next post will be out. LIONEL 'dancing on the ceiling' RITCHIE's concert on Thursday. Haven't bought the tickets yet, but come what may, I AM THERE!

Okay, so my blog post today is inspired by a story a friend told me today. I suppose I was so shocked by it, completely shocked, so shocked I still have trouble believing it as fact. So my suggestion to her, is that she put her story in a book and its sure to be a bestseller...or close. More important is that it may just help parents better understand some of the challenges their children face every day of their lives in HIGH SCHOOL!

I've always felt like the teeny bopper movies were highly exaggerated. You know the type where there is always a group of bullies that...well bully the rest of the kids at school. I could never identify with those movies cause they weren't telling about my experience of school. For the first time today, I realised what a sheltered life I've had. The worst form of initiation I ever had was at my convent school - the seniors instructed us to make a silly hat, and then wear it for the entire week at school. I have a very blurred recollection of actually making the hat, but no memory at all of wearing it. I figure I probably rebelled against it. Most important about this little story is that it didn't matter that I did. The seniors weren't all that obsessed with making me feel stupid (wearing the hat and all). It was just never an issue, so I never got into any trouble with them or anything.

Today I heard of a young standard 7 (whats it called these days?) girl who not only got harassed by her fellow women, but some guys too (unfortunately I'm not going to tell that story in this post).

So it started off being a jealosy thang. The senior girls I suppose felt threatened by her because the older boys thought she was a hottie. One day at netball practice (and this is just so true of those teeny bopper movies), one of the senior girls called out to her and said, "catch" - hurling the netball at her - at lightening speed.

It hit her face so hard, she fell flat on the ground.
The young girl ofcourse didn't want to show any weakness, so she held back her tears, picked the ball up and handed it back to the senior, "here you go ma'm," she said. Yep, apparently the younger kids had to call the matric students 'ma'm' and 'sir'.
I still don't believe that.

Later on that week, she got followed in to the ladies room. About six senior girls took turns beating her up. She just lay on the floor and took the bashing. And in true teeny bopper movie style, even though people saw this happening, 'officially' nobody saw anything.

Lucky for the girl, she had a good relationship with her mom. And when she relayed the story to her, her mom wanted to kick them kids' bums herself. I know this girl's mom - she would do it in a second. But fearing that her mom getting involved would make matter worse for herself, the girl begged her mom not to get involved.

The girl missed school for a while, she was just too scared to go but her mom told her enough is enough, you have to stand up to these girls. The girl asked if she could go to school with a knife...that would be her protection, she told her mom. While her mom said hell no to the knife idea, she did advised her that all she needed to do was just to get one of the girls, just one girl and thats it. (hahaha, I still think that's too unreal - sure sounds like it isn't real doesn't it?).

The girl settled for a hockey stick as her protection. And off she went to school. In no time, the same group of girls followed her to the girls bathroom. Before they even got close to her, she warned them, you touch me, and I'll kill you. I swear to god I'll kill you, she said to them.

The one girl responded. Who do you think you are? You think you can take on all of us?

She then responded. I don't need to take all of you. Just one of you. That's all I need. Just one, she said echoing her mom's words.

The one girl then approached the girl. The girl swung that hockey stick and "BHAH" - hit the one girl on the stomach. The one girl fell back and the girl went on top of her - ready to give her a beat down. The other girls retreated. And she let the one girl go.

Talk about a FIGHT BACK strategy. She went on to tell me another story about a little boy who got beat up by older boys at the school. The little boy had a Nigerian father, a BEEG nigerian man for a father (obviously the older boys didn't know this, else they would have never messed around with the little boy). So the one time, right after the boy got beat up, his dad fetched him from school. He could see that his little boy wasn't okay and asked what happened. And so the little boy told his BEEG nigerian dad what had happened to him. When the dad heard the story he demanded that his son show him who had done it. And he did.

The BEEG nigerian man and his son marched on to the rugby (it had to be the rugby guys) field where the same boys that beat up his son were. He asked his son to point out who had hit him. And when he did, the father went straight to one of the boys and slapped him silly. And then warned the rest of them, if any of you mo-fos touch my kid again, I'll kill you.

Hahahahahaha, do you believe that? I know a lot of bullying goes on at some schools. Maybe even most schools. I was never exposed to it. So I can't identify with it at all. What makes children think they can get away with beating up other kids, for no apparent reason. Just for kicks? Why would anyone want to do that? I just don't get it.

Anyway, this girl that told me these stories...and many more, might I add, I figure should write a book about it. All I could think about as she was telling me these story was all those other kids that have really kak relationships with their folks and suffer in silence as a result. All those kids that get teased and beat up their entire high school life. Stuff like that has to have an impact on you. A very negative impact? I wonder what those kids grow up to be? Serial killers? Wife beaters? Drunks?

After hearing this stuff. I kept thinking...when I do have kids - they are gonna have home school.

Top Gear

2008-11-22T17:48:00.001+02:00

I am in love with the Top Gear Trio. If ever there was a combination of characters in television that was perfect, that complimented each other in every hilarious way, that just was solid, it is Jeremy, James and Richard.

These past two weeks I saw the Top Gear Botswana and trip to the North Pole.

Amazing, insane, hilarious, shocking. These are the descriptive words that come to mind. I was totally blown away by these two particular episodes. I was a top gear fan before, but this was just amazing. This was Television at its best and what Telvision should be about.

I don’t love cars but I respect the passion others have for them. I myself can appreciate a good looking automobile. It is the same thing I suppose with my relationship with other good things in life. Gadgets, state of the art homes, Dell XP’s etcetera. I do not have to own them to appreciate the beauty in the form and function.

This is the door that Top Gear lets me through, to experience the best of the best, vicariously yes, but at least I know what is out there and what is good to have, to drive, to scorn at. The Top Gear guys look down on the beetle but I can appreciate that it is an iconic symbol of an time/era that till today, tries to survive. I’d have chosen the beetle to battle across the Kalahari.

But yes, if you ever get the chance, watch, Botswana and the luxury journey to the North Pole. It is nail biting stuff but also hilarious. I particularly enjoyed the toilet scenes on the journey to the North Pole.

CHANGE

2008-11-05T17:54:00.002+02:00

So I was wrong. And boy am I happy I was wrong. I sat watching McCain this morning, delivering his speech. And he looked particularly disappointed. But I was impressed with him, and how he handled his defeat. Even when his supporters booed at the sound of Obama's name - which he mentioned a few times during his speech - there was some dignity in how he did it.

BUT THEN, later on that morning BARACK OBAMA waltzed on stage in Chicago and delivered his - and if it was not clear to you before, it became clear which of the two was most deserving to sit in that white house. There's something incredibly dreamy about his delivery of speeches. They kinda make you get all worked up, all excited, all energised - ready to take on the world. I felt tears building up in my eyes as I listened to him talk about a 106 year old black woman who had seen all that was possible in America. The change that DID take place...in the past years and again today as Obama became the first black president of the United States of America.

I went on to cry 'heeeee, heeeee' - you know the kind of cry I'm talking about? When your face gets all shriveled up and you make strange, 'choking-like' sounds. I was more proud to be a human being than anything else today.

You know, it is quite easy to take his whole 'change' slogan lightly. But if you really think about it, if you really internalise it and understand what it means - you couldn't have listened to his speech and not cried. I have had so little faith in humanity lately...actually for a long time. And for me it became oh so gloriously clear today that ANYTHING is possible if you just believe and you hope. Everything that I perceived to be wrong in the world suddenly became an opportunity for change. The things we can achieve as a people are endless. Who was it that said something like, 'together we stand, devided we fall'. Barack Obama reminded of that today.

Heroes, Season Deux!

2008-10-25T18:38:00.003+02:00

Heroes, Season Deux!

Folks, Heroes is back! According to Heartwarmer, only me and her are the only 2 people on earth who still have not seen the total second series. I can not tell with the people around me at the moment, I have a feeling they would look at me weirdly and exclaim, huh, what you talking about?

I missed the first two episodes. I missed the first episode because I finally caved in and got myself DSTV and was probably channel surfing and totally ignored what was on show on SABC. Second time, I was out of the country, totally not worth it. I would have preferred to stay put and watch my Heroes.

So I finally could watch my first episode this past Thursday and OMG, this has to be the most amazing, the most nail biting, the most gripping, the most entertaining and ultimately, the best escape there is on television, ever!

Yes, we’ve had Lost. We have Dexter, we have a plethora of TV shows that have caught on to the concept of giving that little bit of shock and horror and hope that you will tune in the next week to be amazed and shocked and inspired the next week, and the next and the next.

I choose Heroes. HEROES! So the premise is that humans are evolving and some of us are developing super powers to either take the human race to the next level humanity or annihilate it. It is about good vs evil. It is about being different and finding your place and purpose in the world. It is about humanity and all the human things that go with that.

In this second series we are introduced to new and wonderful characters. Heartwarmer especially likes the brother and sister duo who when separated, the sister spontaneously kills all around her, the brother helps bring the balance and benevolence. Heartwarmer calls it them the Yin and Yang. I like that too. Terrifying, but beautiful.

The third episode that I am starting with, which aired this last Thursday had Sila being taken care of by a woman who can project imagination. Although Sila was wounded and in a crappy type place, she could place him on a beach and make herself look like anyone he wanted her to look like. Pity that his nature took over, he killed her but could not gain her power. Wait till next week to see what happens.

Peter Pitrelli is in the process of rediscovering his powers. Hiro in is ancient Japan and is trying helping a warrior live up to his history.

I have not seen Nathan. Is he dead? Hhhmmm.

Claire has a boyfriend that can fly. Ya well.

Heartwarmer tells me the kid that can map all the ‘mutants’ (which is what they are, but this show has a totally different feel to X Men) sees somebody that scares them more than Sila. Could it be the flying boy? Probably not. I will wait to see.

So I wait, for the next week to happen, the only thing that matters about next week is what happens on Heroes! This is what there is. Finish and Klaar!

If I was one of the Heroes I would want the power to hear other people’s thoughts, but what would I do with that? No, I would want to have what Peter Pitrelli has, the ability to absorb other people’s powers without having to eat their brains like Sila. I suppose it is like telling the Genie that you wish for a million wishes or to be God. I want that.

Heroes, watch it and get hooked!

Freak Show

2008-10-08T17:41:00.004+02:00

Madame Zingara is a freak show. I kid you not. I'd read about it vaguely when it first hit Joburg sometime last year, and people made a big fuss about the food bit. I don't remember anybody ever mentioning that it was a freak show. I would have remembered.

I had a fantastic time last night at Monte Casino. Apparently the show's sold out until it moves on to whatever city its planning to head to next. It was a full house last night. Madame Zingara, at least my sister tells me, used to be a restuarant in Cape Town, until it burnt down. The idea I get is that it was a big hit there...but then it burnt down you see.
And so this fabulous idea for it to become a mobile restuarant/freak show was born. Travelling from city to city I imagine.
If you haven't been, I can't recommend a better plan for a splendid night out. It has all the right ingredients. Great acts. Scrumptious food. Great music.

I don't want to give it all away, so I'm not going to say much else (unless you really want me to)...its a must see. If by some luck you do happen to go...watch out for 'the creature'.

TV License Ad Campaign

2008-09-29T12:36:00.003+02:00

It pisses me off. How much money did they spend on this?

I see advertisements on Magazines, Radio, Newspaper, TV. And these are not cheap ads either, I mean to take out a series of advertisements in the financial mail, is not cheap, production of these advertisements is not cheap.

It just seems to me that we are asked to pay our TV licenses in order for the TV license people to be able to afford the ad campaign for the following year.

The whole thing just seems obscene and unjustifiable. The money they collect should be used for other things, I don't know.

Who the hell do we pay this license to anyway?

Who ever it is, do they buy content for the various TV stations? Do they give a little to SABC and etv?

Would these ads actually convince people, appeal to their moral side to pay their TV license??? Will YOU pay your TV license after seeing these ads?

Would the money not be better spent on other things? And then convince people to pay their license by saying, ‘…this programme’ or, ‘…this message was made possible by YOU paying your TV license’? I could buy into that. I don’t buy into spending money just for the sake of it!

What pisses me off the most is that the campaign is so brilliant. I love the print ads, the alien going off on his space ship, the werewolf, etc. I get so excited when I see one, and then I get crushed when I see the TV License logo at the bottom. Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

The boldest story ever told

2008-09-26T12:55:00.003+02:00

I want to know if Oliver Stone could do the blockbuster epic that is SA politics at the moment.

Imagine, against the back drop of the world economic meltdown, emerges a story of a misunderstood president (or however you see it) and the events of the past week. Certain incidents could be changed for dramatic effect, to take the story forward.

Instead of just one thread this could be a couple. The Weekender story of how they got the scoop and were the only Saturday paper to carry the story. They are patting themselves on the back very publicly and unashamedly for that. Which I suppose they should! Well done Karima!

The other story is a more personal one and aims to get Thabo better understood. There would be scenes of him as he is at home with the lovely Zanele, (do they have kids? maybe one of them could be gay because his dad did not hug him enough as a child so he looks for love in the arms of strange men, this is where artistic license would need to be exercised), him taking council from Moeletsi, his off the camera interactions with Miranda and so on and so on.

The next key story would be that of Kgalema and his rise.

On the periphery would be the likes of Julius the patsy, Trevor the tease, and Jacob the irresistible.

So one needs action and romance in there somewhere right?, I think therefore we could add the story of how Manto and Thabo met as young revolutionaries but Manto broke his heart and he has never been able to fully give it up ever since. Aloof? he does not want to get hurt again! (again, for dramatic effect, does not necessarily have to be true)

I'll get going on the script. I welcome suggestions for key roles.

The Dark Knight

2008-08-02T19:38:00.002+02:00

What an incredible tour de force. When you think all is well, something else comes up. This has to be the best, I mean, THE BEST, Batman ever! It is, in its own right, a very gripping, a very revealing a very understandable explanation of how it all began.

The Villains are just as interesting and onioned as the heroes. The story is layered with twists and turns that you would happily let it go on forever. I would. I would.

Prequels are the thing but this is different. George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton all gave us what we needed at the time but the game needed to be stepped up a little to keep us interested. The game was stepped up and OMG!

As the world changes so do the heroes that we need to carry on.

I want to believe!!! Can’t wait!!!

2008-07-30T13:26:00.003+02:00

Why oh why did they ever bring this series to an end. One of the reviews’ headlines on the X files read “the X factor is gone, so close the files”. Needless to say, I did not read further.

The thing about the X Files is that there is always a story. Like Start Trek, there are always new and fantastic stories to tell. Even 50 years down the line there will always be some X File waiting to be uncovered.

The thing about these kinds of shows is that they sometimes tap into current affairs and relay a little bit of a sci fi spin to what is going on in the world. Which is always entertaining and a little bit true?

Okay, back to this next episode. I want to believe. Okay Scully was always the rational one and she’s finds some kind of faith through a pedophile priest in this movie. Moulder and Scully are kind of together. I especially enjoyed the scene when they are in bed together. They are meant to be together and why the hell not. I hate those shows where the writers of the shows just keep you dangling and hoping that the lead characters will eventually end up together but never do. Scully and Moulder do not have a kind of a domestic life but they have resigned themselves to the fact they love each other and irk a way to demonstrate and live that the best way they know how. The best way they can.

So can one transplant a head? Who cares, the idea is awesome and fantastic.

Further ideas for future movie length episodes: There was a suggestion in this episode that George Bush had some Files hidden away. Ii am guessing, his relationship to some Middle Eastern companies? Maybe he himself is a botched experiment, maybe even his relationship with the smoking man.

Other ideas that could make for great TV: global warming, the globe is preparing itself or being prepared for another species that can live amongst the storms and high temperatures…etc.

I miss the stories about the Borg and Moulder’s sister and the smoking man, and and and. Bring these back. As often as possible. What else is left?

My romance with the alternative romance genre continues

2008-07-12T18:53:00.000+02:00

I’ve thought very hard about writing about this particular TV show. I thought, if I write about this then I will be thought less of because of my attraction to this melodramatic soap opera type. I will be ridiculed for believing and buying into something that is so blatantly made for a specific section of our community. Those who crave cheap romance and get off on the age old love story where friends fall in love can never seem to get it together, ever. Every episode you are tortured, with hope that they might just get it together but alas, it is not meant to be. Ohhh and they came so close this one time….

I kept thinking and thought, hey. Fuck it. This is a brilliant series and one should share what one thinks is brilliant, right? Right! And this is what this blog is about. What I love and want to share. With myself mostly but maybe somebody else out there in cyber ether will identify.

Queer as Folk, American Version, season one and two! Season three, four and five just get too serious and stale and clichéd and just plain boring!

In Queer as Folk I got introduced to Brian Kenny. Brian Kenny is a gay man, who is utterly gorgeous and can (and often does) have anyone he chooses. He is oozing sex and has no inclination towards monogamy. He is who we all would probably like to be and so, so much more. Enter Michael, his best friend since childhood. The only person he’s still not had except; for this one time that they jerked each other off as horny teenagers. Michael and Brian will never be together because that is just the way the writers chose to spin this tale, but I always had hope. Season three, four and five crushed that hope and I hate the writers for it!

There are a few more characters in the series that are really great and one or two that have been very poorly cast. One of whom is the high school kid who falls in love with Brian and turns out to be Brian’s Kryptonite. I think the only reason this guy (Justin was his name) made it into the show was his uncanny resemblance to Matt Damon. I know… Matt is cool and all but he does not make a believable gay man. Even in the Talented Mr Ripley you could feel him trying to cling to something that is just not there in him. The gay man that strives to be sexy and enticing. Just does not work.

The other characters are okay until, enter Zen Ben who would kill my hope that Brian and Michael would end up together.

If you have a weekend to kill or have called in sick at work and need something to keep you going for a good couple of days, get Queer as Folk, American Version Season One and Two. It is funny, it is not for children which is always a bonus as you can always get some nudity, man on man, girl on girl, action, what ever you are into. It is supper sexy without being obscene. Well at least I think so. Do not watch it with the folks though.

It is really what it is. A melodrama with a heck of a lot of nudity and you will fall in love with Michael and want to be Brian!

After watching all the seasons I tried to delve into the L Word. I could only stomach one season of it. It confirmed what I already knew. Girl on Girl is just not meant to be sexy. They tried to replicate Queer as Folk, it just did not work for me. Girls are just different. There is tenderness and loving and no space for being casual about it. We are intrinsically deep and form attachments. There is just nothing casual about us, and if we try, we fall on our asses and remember the embarrassment for eternity. This is a good thing.

The last day

2008-07-05T19:07:00.000+02:00

The ballet. Don Quixote. I think this was my first Ballet experience. I appreciate the technical working that goes into crossing a threshold on your toes and being able to hold your leg at a right angle to the other for any length of time. I appreciate the blood sweat and tears that goes into being a ballerina, after all I did see Fame and a few other movies on the subject. I appreciate the music that accompanies the performances and its ability to evoke passion and other kinds of emotion. I do. I do. I do. But, is there suppose to be a story to keep us interested in all of this? If there was on this one I am ashamed to say that I missed it. As much as I enjoyed my first ballet, I think it would be a long time before I return.

I remember as a child seeing the story of Don Quixote on television and I know it has something to do with a deranged man who thinks that he is larger than life and can pick fights with windmills. He fights against what he thinks is evil, windmills included. I saw nothing that took me back to that. It was about the dancing and that was it. Technique can hold me only for so long.

Oh, and can someone please set me straight, the song, ‘To Dream The Impossible Dream’ was in that Don Quixote movie was it not? That is how I remember it. Not as a Luther Van Ross song but as part of the music of a really great musical.

I think I should set my sights high for my next Ballet. I think Swan Lake (and they better have a little bit of what I saw in Billy Elliot in it!)

My last show of the Gtown fes (I just did not have the strength today to sit through a production that was raw or amateurish or just plain bad) was Stuart Taylor’s Techni-coloured. Apparently this show has been running for two years already. I could not find any other stand-up that I really wanted to see. I have seen Politically Incorrect on DVD and was less than amused, there was some other dudes as well, but thought hey why not see the 'Going No Where Slowly' guy. Should be fun. No it was not.

So all in all the Gtown festival was a bit of a disappointment and I blame it all on myself. Maybe I should not have come alone, although, the thought of having watched the shows that I did with someone else makes me tired. I should have planned better, although I thought the thing about Gtown is to pop in here and there and see where the festival takes you.

I think it is largely aimed at those people that have been coming for years and who know exactly what they are looking for. I met a couple who sold me the Ballet ticket (it was fully booked and just my luck, these to needed to get rid of a ticket), and they had been coming down for15 years. They had their whole itinerary right down to the last hour of the festival and I thought, maybe I should have planned a little better. They seemed to be enjoying the fes but I think they were also not impressed by the lack of a story line on the ballet.

It was good to be back in Gtown but it should have been for a much shorter time, like passing through and needing to kill 2 hours.

A Dance, a Tear, and a Laugh, what more could one ask for in a day?

2008-07-04T21:38:00.002+02:00

So I have deciphered the Code that is the Grahamstown festival and what a relief! Got up this morning, had residence breakfast (awful, I am too use to staying in hotels where people actually care about what you think of the place), and set out to find the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. And boy did I find it.

I had this whole thing wrong. Stupid me thought if you are in Grahamstown for the festival everyone around town, especially the locals would be ready to serve the out-of-towners and point them in the right direction. Wrong, you are on your own and you need to have the programme to have an inkling of what the hell is going on.

Stupid me also thought that for the duration of my trip here I can leave by Volkswagen and walk around from venue to venue to enjoy the shows that I needed to see. Wrong again. If you do not have a car you are fucked. Okay maybe not because I did see a few signs that indicated that there were shuttles around town that could take you where you needed to be.

So, today was my first real festival experience and I have to say, I have been spoilt by our filtering system where some person, with a whole lot of patience decides what is worth taking to the masses (whether it be to ArtsScape or the Market Theatre or what ever), and what is not so cool. The value is also that you put a piece of art on show and with the audience feedback and some editing your show has more of a mass appeal. I do not have the patience and I am struggling to see that value.

So yes, Grahamstown is open to all, to any, to what ever. I do not know what the process is to get in as a performer but I felt it is a large testing ground for new untested material that can go either way.

My experience today taught me that. Before something gets to be a full blown success, it needs to be tested at the Gtown fes.

Three shows in one day and I did not even begin to scrape the surface of what is on show. For that I will be disappointed.

On the dance side I went for the Dance to the Rain Queen, production by Moses Molelekwa Arts Foundation. He was there in spirit on the percussion. The piece was two thirds jazz (my Jazz appreciation is still evolving), and one third dance. It is listed as ‘dance’. That was my one and only disappointment because I am still schooling myself in the very intellectual area of Jazz enjoyment. Although I do think experiencing live music is better than anything and can get you into any type of music. To see and feel the passion of the various musicians enjoying and doing their thing is a gift from musical mother earth (or Musical God, or mathematics, which ever you prefer). The show was even more amazing because the people that were performing could not have been older that 20. All I could do was imagine them at say thirty-something and doing their thing. The sky is the limit and with passion, talent and a focus, they could be great. I wish the kids there the best in the world and I hope to see some of them in the not so distant future. Maybe at the Cape Town Jazz?

On the Tear side I went to go see the adaptation to stage of the novel the Quite Violence of Dreams. I am too close to this and recognise that an objective view of it (when am I ever objective?) is impossible. Tiring, self indulgent and it makes me less understanding, less empathetic. Why can’t people just get over themselves. I was meant to read the book but did not finish it (this is true of many other great books that have been left unfinished with the book mark still protruding from where I left off, mocking me). Now that I have seen the play I am extremely guiltily glad that I did not finish the book. What a load of crap. I appreciate that others saw something else in this book, something great that needed to be transferred to another medium. All I am saying is…what is the fucking point? I do not get it, it did not get me and that is that. That is both on the book and the play. The performances on the other hand…We had Duke Motlanthe, Lebo Mashile and others who were really great! Really brave. I admire that. There were moments in the theater where there were scenes that made people uncomfortable (this was most palatable on the M2M kisses, which is really stupid. I did not get the same winces on the Black on White Kisses) and I suppose the cast knew how the audience would react but they did not cut short the kisses. The play ended off on a high note with an insignificant word invested in a very meaningful emotional note. I just did not get it, and that is my problem.

Then enter the lowlight of the evening. I was sitting at the drama department cafeteria pondering what to do next, could I finish my food in time to watch this one or that one or something else? 'Short Skirts and High Heels' caught my eye and off I went. This show has no redeeming qualities except for the promise of some nudity of which there is none. Go back to the drawing board.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Gtown festival. I am not sure how I feel about that. I miss Cape Town but I love being on holiday and hopping to see what South Africa is putting on the arts scene.

HahahahahahahahhaHANCOCK!

2008-07-04T20:11:00.000+02:00

You know I was standing in the queue for popcorn at the movies when I saw the trailer for Hancock.
I'd bought a ticket to see it after I'd seen a shorter trailer a couple of weeks back. This trailer, then one I was watching while waiting in line for popcorn, this one was much longer.
I laughed out loud when I saw Will Smith flying up and down like he was on steroids. Hahahahahaha.
WILL SMITH FLIES in the movie. Hahahahahahaha.
Its not so much that he flies actually, its more about how he flies. Heroes comes to mind. You remember how the Peter and Nathan Petrelli used to do it? Kinda like a rocket launch. I always thought that was funny because I'd become accustomed to the Superman way of flying which was at a much slower pace.
Superman flying wasn't ridiculous. But the Petrilli way, I just never got used to it.
So even in this movie, I just never got used to Will's flying.

Anyway the movie's awesome. The fact that its absolutely ridiculous makes it such a bloody good movie. Okay, bloody good is pushing it. It was fun. I had fun with it. It is sourt of like those Mr Bean skits. You know, he is so ridiculous, so silly, so obsurd that he's hilarious. Same here.

Hancock is a funny hero movie. Hahaha, imagine an alcoholic hero. Hahahhaha. The Hulk smoking cigarettes? Or Superman as a nympho? They have humanised the concept of a hero in Hancock and its funny.
For something light and well worth it - watch this movie.
's flyling br

The more things stay the same…

2008-07-03T20:56:00.002+02:00

Nine hundred kilometers I traveled, I looked forward to see my gracious host of two and half years. I wondered, would it be the same, would it have changed so much that I would not recognize it?

So I am for the first time attending the Grahamstown national arts festival. I got in a few hours ago and thus far, other than seeing it from afar I am mad, I am unhappy and I am bothered!

Where the fuck is the organisation? How the fuck am I suppose to immerse myself into this age ole festival when I can’t find anything? Where is the help, where are the friendly festival marshals to point me in the right direction? Oh lord. I want to go home.

There should be programmes everywhere and maps that show you where you are and where you need to be.

So far all I’ve seen, I could have seen at the Cape Town station flea market. I am not impressed, I am not happy. Maybe I am just tired from the long drive.

Fuck it, there at least should be something happening at the drama department, right? Right? Wrong! Even they do not know what the hell is showing or where I can get a hold of a programme.

So I’ll just have to find out about the various happenings of this little sleepy town from the web. How ridiculous is that? I am here, I am here for goodness sakes!

Anywho back to Gtown my host for 2.5 year of my life. The first thing I go and check out of course is where I spent most of my time not studying. The loner that I was, my time was largely spent at the movies or at the library where I got through trashy novels by Dean Koontz and Stephen King and Robin Cook!

This is what my one cinema looks like today! I shed a tear.

But somethings stay the same:

This has to be the vision that has stayed in my mind all these years.

Surprisingly, well not so much, the Rhodes residences have stayed the same. Same furniture, same mattresses (rock hard), same lamps. As nice as it is to be taken back, it is a little sad, where is that child today that spent so much time in this room wishing for…

So twelve years later, some things have changed in Res. Like, people probably get bugged by cell phones ringing in the middle of the night. Instead of hearing the tap tap tap of someone working hard at their type writer there is silence. I can not even start to image how technology has changed the way we learn and interact with one another.

Ja anyway. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some show to talk about. For now, it is bed time at 21h00 in Gtown. For me anyway.

The Odd Couple

2008-06-14T20:37:00.001+02:00

So I was in an accumulative mood today. Gnarles Barkley's newest CD is out and I am in Heaven!

No other has affected me as much; and I can sooooo identify with this music without going out to buy the sound track to Good Morning Vietnam or the greatest hits of the Supremes.

Do not want to bring it down to that but that is what it is! Is it not?

I luuuuurrrvvvv Ggarls Barkley!!! I hope you do too! Even if it is for different reasons!

Get a taste and get addicted!

The Incredible Hulk

2008-06-14T20:36:00.000+02:00

Less than 48 hours ago I did not know this movie existed, less than 48 ago I was content thinking there was nothing out there for me, for my craving for a big block buster special effect phenomenon, and just plain thrill type movie. All there was was the Chronicles of Narnia and Indiana Jones.

Do not get me wrong, I think George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg together is an event worth at least the R9 I pay for my movies, but, I am allowed to let one pas me by. I was never an Indiana Jones fan and I am fine with that. I do not feel that I am missing out on anything. Although every sci fi bone in my body tells me I need to go watch this next chapter of Harrison Ford Jumping and leaping through the jungle trying to solve the Holy Grail puzzle, I have made a conscious decision to give this one a miss. Catch you on your next collaboration Spielberg and Lucas!

So less than 48 hours ago, Ii did not know that Edward Norton was going to0o present his version of Sgantsontso! He would take on the role of Bruce Banner and make it his own, literally. He had some part in putting together the screenplay. That’s all I need. That was it. I am in and a whole lot of enthusiasm and expectation!

It my routine that on a Friday morning on my drive to work that I listen to Adam Swindler and Barry Ronge to if anything, catch up on what is on circuit and what the old white men think about it. Adam skipped it but I tuned on to 576 and Barry spoke the magic words, Edward Norton as the Hulk!!!!! I was sold.

So today I went off to watch the 12h15 show at Bay Side and this is what I personally think.

Great, Great, but, who the fuck, can do better than fucking Ang Lee and Eric Banner??? Mind you, this was the season that Ang Lee broke my heart with Broke Back Mountain so I will vote him over any other director there is.

So I suppose it comes down to this, Eric Banner vs Edward Norton. Who makes for a more torn, conflicted and hopelessly in love (which proves to be his weakness) Super Hero???

That is the ultimate question. I have been into Edward Norton since he played the retarded guy in The Score! He is the man and I was one with his Fight Club character who did not know that he was just as good looking as fucking Brad Pitt, the balls too.

But I am backed up against a corner because, I expected something new, something different, all I got from this new version of the incredible Hulk is the definition on the horizontal muscles across a man’s chest. Oh, I was always a fan of this part of a man body but…. The way Tim Roth’s abdomen (into pubic area) looked was just amazing!!!
I would take that on my ovulation day (over fantaties about some romantic NoteBook) any time!

All in all, cool special effects. It takes a while to see the full blown Hulk but it is worth it. The idea of his nemesis is a little boring. I do not know what could have worked better but that certainly did not! Too clichéd. I need to give Hollywood a call. We need more internal turmoil and schizophrenia. Because, ultimately, who do we want to defeat, ourselves, people!!!

At the end of the movie Iron Man walks in and says there is a collaboration coming up. He is not at all subtle about it but I suppose it would be interesting to see who would win between the Hulk and Iron Man. I just hope they keep the Predator and the Alien out of it.

I think I have asked this question before. But we go again. Who is your money on?

The Hulk vs Iron Man?
Spider Man vs Super Man?
The Fantastic 4 vs the Cosby Kids?

Hey, the Cosbys were one super hero family yall!

48 hours ago I had nothing cinematic to look forward to. 48 hours later the same remains.

I’m out.

Heartwarmer you better comment!!!!

Three spoons for the Hulk!

What is your favourite Chris Rock joke

2008-06-09T16:52:00.002+02:00

So Chris Rocked SA recently and other than the obnoxious laughs from a few of the members of the audience, it was not a bad show.

My favourite bit was the story about how his next door neighbour was a dentist.
‘My only three black neighbors are Mary J. Blige, one of the greatest singers of all time, Denzel Washington, one of the greatest actors of all time, and Jay-Z, one of the greatest rappers of all time." His white neighbor? "A dentist. And he isn't like the greatest dentist in history either. I had to host the Oscars to get that house — a black dentist in my neighborhood would have to invent teeth.’

What was your favourite bit?

Be With Me

2008-05-25T17:56:00.002+02:00

I think I may be in one of those watershed moments in one’s life that may determine the course of the rest of my life.

There has just been way too much weirdness this weekend that I can not even begin to explain, not even to myself.

But the thing that brought the events home to me these weird 48 hours is ‘Be With Me’.

So yes, I am at a point in my life where events seem to be unfolding and coming together to tell me something that I still need to confirm. I suppose it started with a conversation with my baby sister and my baby brother after an episode of good ole Oprah.

The episode was about The Secret and intention and putting out into the universe what you want. My siblings just did not believe me when I told them that I would actually rather be with someone, instead of alone. They told me that the energy I have been putting out there is that I am fine on my own and thus the single status I find myself in. I begged to differ and said that was the public personal and that secrectly, who the hell does not want to have someone to come home to at the end of the day.

Cut to Saturday morning and me and my friend, (who I met under normal circumstances if you can call it that except, I just do not meet people. So for me it was just weird that I met someone, a new friend.) decided to go to the market and then take a walk up Signal Hill where a conversation opened a door that I did not know existed.

But, this post this post is not about that, it is about the ‘Be With Me’.

The most heart wrenching story ever told. And I have heard a few.

Be With Me has a few stories tangled in it and when it starts, you think, oh lord it is one of those artsy fartsy movies where you feel cheated at the end of the movie because it did not turn out to be what you expected.

But little did I know that like any other thing in life (books, movies, experiences), they choose us, we do not choose them.

With my brain consumed with possibilities of the future and the doors that had been cracked open, I go into this movie looking for (after watching Gray Matters the previous night) something that would unconfirm what I was feeling and let me know: hey, you are reading way too much into this, you are actually A okay!

Be With Me, (tucked away in the male gay section of the video store), tore me apart. If you’re feeling just a little bit too sorry for yourself and need to come out for a little bit of air, this movie will give you the perspective you need, on love anyway.

I don’t know how to preview this movie, maybe it is meant not to be previewed. You need to just watch it and let it take you to where you need to be.

But of course, someone else did try:

“Although four stories, three fictional and one real, are folded together in Eric Khoo’s elliptical film “Be With Me,” the tale that gives this delicate, melancholic movie its backbone is the true one of its courageous central character, Theresa Chan. A deaf and blind Singaporean woman in her early 60’s who plays herself in the movie, Ms. Chan is an indomitable life force and charismatic screen presence. Even after she concludes her account of transcending the “silent, dark prison” of her disabilities with the help of gifted teachers, you are left wondering how she did it.” The New York Times

'Be with me, my beloved love, that my smile may not fade'.

Oh skipper my skipper

2008-05-01T15:06:00.002+02:00

So I went on a tour of some of the islands around Bali today. It promised to be an uneventful trip as I was stuck with the three stooges and a Russian couple, the girl did not speak or understand a word of English.

Being it, my fourth day in this foreign land, I am getting a little bit sick of the gentle people asking me where I am from and what my name is. It is almost like these two questions are an opener to all interactions with the gentle Balinese people. I was warned, it was actually a good thing that the boss gave me a travel book about Bali, it explained that they are prone to asking about your condition and making sure that you are well. It is making conversation really and it is much appreciated, for someone who is traveling alone. Although, I do sometimes misunderstand and think that I am being picked up. I almost very quickly and sadly come to realize that this is not a pick up line but just cutesy.

Anyway, the day did not start out so great as I had not yet moved the Mongolian dinner which was exceptionally spicy. My movement only came just as we are about to set off. They had to wait an extra 15 minutes for the food to reach its final destination.

That off my shoulders, the day was looking brighter. I got the front row seat on the boat and off we went.

It was beautiful and all and all and all. The thing I want to share is my adventure with the skipper under water. Was it a seduction, lost in translation or do I need to get over myself? Here are the facts:

1. I was the only person with a full time under water guide!
2. He held my hand and pointed to the really cool stuff I needed to see!
3. At one point he was on my back and I got a little panicked and re surfaced. Thinking about it now, a woman of my age should just leave nothing unanswered. I should have played back and determined whether the doggy style type thing was an underwater language or if he was really trying to get jiggy with me!
4. The current kept pushing me towards him, my hand may have brushed up against his thingamabob
5. He praised me. When I could only hold my breath for a measly 30 seconds or so and go under and do the cool stuff with him, HE PRAISED ME!

Now, you tell me, was he trying to get jiggy with me or have I become so out of touch with the world that if anyone brushes (not even touches) up against me I think wedding bells? Am I crazy? Or shall I go for another tour tomorrow and find out for sure?

And, and I think one of the waitresses is gay and also wants to get jiggy with me. I am going for a walk with her and her son tomorrow. So will find out soon enough.

Oh dear… To be me

Not the movie of the week

2008-04-30T14:23:00.002+02:00

So, yes, after 33 years of living my life within the confines of this our republic, I have now ventured onto the outside world, and my first extra continental destination is Bali, in Indonesia and this is how it went. Mind you, I do not think this post could ever be translated into a movie script. Nothing much happens. Although, they did make a movie out of sitting in the airport - reference Tom Hanks, The Terminal, and, and, the one where he talks to the soccer ball??? Thinner plots have been made into a movie I suppose. Just need Whoopi Goldberg to play me, oh wait, they already did ‘How Stella Got her Groove Back’.

To get on with my story, I am about four days into my holiday and thus far, it has been an interesting adventure.

Day 1

Fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg, then to Doha where I have a 17 hour layover. You would think that I could get out of the airport and see a little bit of Doha in these 17 hours. Sadly no.

The thing I want to share the most about Doha is the state of their airport toilets. People keep telling us that we live in the most brilliant country in the world, this fact can just be tested by the state of our airport toilets. Ours are brilliant compared to elsewhere. And in this particular elsewhere you get these ladies that are in the toilet that are suppose to be making sure that all is well in the toilet. That there are not any unmentionables lurking around in the OPEN bin in the toilet stall and no discarded tissue papers on the floor and the counters and no water, water everywhere! No they are too consumed with other things, I can not image what.

Qatar airways gave good service but as soon as I landed they started speaking a different language. The least people could do was to point, point me in the right direction, show me what I need to do and where I need to go. Lord!

17 hours later, after as few trips to the toilet as possible, we eventually leave for Kuala Lumpur, spend an hour on the plane and then finally, after over 48 hours, stinking to high heaven, we finally arrive in Bali.

Oh, Bali. Having never left home before I was a little bit amazed and awed and dumb struck. The plane lands right next to the beach. You keep thinking as you are making your landing approach that you are going to land on the water, but just in the nick of time, land comes up and you touch down on solid ground. Most amazing thing.

The airport is tiny. I thought Cape Town Airport was child’s play but this one… The thing you are greeted by as you step outside the plane is the heat. Very still, very hot, very wet heat!!! Because it was dark, I did not realize I was outside the airport because there was just no difference between the inside and the outside.

The first thing I learnt is that one should not bargain on a price if you do not intend buying the thing you are bargaining for. After I realized I did not have enough Rupiah to buy the two Zippos that I had negotiated for 100 000 Rupiahs, I was in trouble. I had to empty out my purse and give up all the money I had in it. My worthless SA 5 cent coins and all. You cannot re-bargain the price or take anything back. This was the moment that I felt most vulnerable in Bali and it was not so bad.

This story could be continued…

Madame Zingara – theatre of dreams

2008-03-28T15:58:00.000+02:00

Madame Zingara was an eccentric restaurant (lets pretend restaurants can be described in this way because it did have a personality). It was an eccentric restaurant on Loop Street in Cape Town. I probably went there about twice in my 12 odd years in Cape Town (from posts I assume you’ve already gathered that I do not get out much). Any way this place was a legend and it sadly burnt down a few years ago.

I was therefore gladly surprised when one of my co workers said that it had reopened its doors, but this time less solid doors as the restaurant was now in a tent. A circus type tent to be specific. The Madame Zingara crowd came up with an idea of taking the eccentricity to another level where patrons can sit down and enjoy a show, circus type show along with their four course meal. And so it was.

It took me a while to get to see this spectacle which I almost did not get to see, but, the planets aligned and my wish was granted.

Earlier this year I went to go see the Lion King. It was one of those experiences that when you are in it, your whole body tingles, your body is injected with such positive super charged energy that it becomes difficult to just sit still. You sit there in the dark, toes tapping, shoulders and heard bopping to and fro, side to side and tears of absolute joy and ecstasy flow down your cheeks.

The Madame Zingara gave me a semblance of my lion king experience.

So it’s kinda like a circus show with out the animals but with trapeze artists and the contortionists and strong men. Circ De Soule on a much, much, much smaller scale!

I cried for the Mongolian contortionist, I craved after the strong man Ivan, I was seduced by the host and amazed by enchanted by everything else.

The food was great, Madame Zingara was renowned for its chocolate chili fillet and I was ‘chocochillied’ to find out they had kept it on the menu. Delicious even at 21h00 at night (did not have nightmares at all afterwards!). The food was just great and well orchestrated to fit into the recesses of the show.

Check it out it is amazing.

Five spoons for first timers

Huge bonus about the show is that with all the energy that has been building up and building up (there is a ‘Supremes’-type-group that keeps the music going during the show), you get to release it at the end when they open the floor to some dancing from the audience!!! Cool cool place.

Juno

2008-03-28T14:48:00.001+02:00

I am the type of person that does not dislike uncomfortable silences, I do not try to fill these up with inane uttering just so that the uncomfortableness goes away. For me, the inane utterings make me feel even more uncomfortable so it is easier to deal with the discomfort of a silence, at least in that one has a 50:50 chance of coming out with some dignity.

This does not excuse my silence for the past few weeks, or months. The simple truth is that even with the cool movies I’ve see, I just did not have that overwhelming urge to put my take on it on paper for posterity.

But last week I watched Juno and I have to say something about this so that I can read this two years from now and remind myself why I liked it.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie, mainly because of the numerous Oscar nominations it received and being crowned the little miss sunshine of 2008.

The hype was deserved. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that makes no judgments (except maybe that teenage pregnancy happens and should not), and teaches nothing (except maybe that, in the midst of it all, wit will make the journey a little bit more bearable), and concludes touchingly with the thought that nothing happens as it is planned, but that does not mean that you go off the course and despair.

They called it the ‘little Miss Sunshine’ of 2008 and it is probably that, surprisingly uplifting on the first screening but after the second one you realise how far from reality it really is. And it should be far from reality, why the hell not, after all, we watch movies to escape and entertain other possibilities.

Jason Bateman is awesome, even when he is acting a borderline pedophile, Jennifer Gardner, still has that pained look about her which works for the character, the OZ/SVU guy as the father is also cool like that, the step mom, West Wing’s press woman has a nice scene in the doctor’s office. Juno, on the other hand, was mean little miss know-it-all who got stupid. I don’t think we would have been friends if I went to school with her. She is just plain mean!

Cool movie though.

Three spoons

The other love that dare not speak its name

2008-01-27T08:32:00.001+02:00

The Mother
Anne Reid as the Mother and Daniel Craig
Director: Roger Mitchell (of Notting Hill, yes the man that shot, I am just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her)

Daniel Craig’s character has a line in the movie that goes: ‘We’ll be like that one day, nobody wanting us.’ And this is the point of the whole movie. That Daniel Craig (or our own personal version of him anyway) will want us, even when we are 70 years old and have lost hope of any romance or physical attraction. That a superb specimen that is Daniel Craig could actually want us.

Apparently this was a most controversial story, breaking taboos and all of that. What I kept thinking was, would it be just as taboo if it was the other way around? If some 70 year old man was getting it on with a thirty something year old woman? Would it raise any eyebrows and would it be such a touching story to tell? I think not.

So yes, this is a story about an older woman getting it on with a younger not so savoury man. Okay so there are other issues in play, like the fact that the younger man is the woman’s daughter’s boyfriend who is actually married anyway. Yes there are those factors complicating the story, but a good story it remains.

I know my biggest fear in life is that I am not attractive to anyone in the world. That at 65, that will have been made abundantly true is a very real fear and a depressing one at that. So this movie hit home for me. Mainly in confirming the fact that yes, you will not be attractive to anybody else, if you are; they are after something else other than your aging droopy body.

Others may take away from this movie that your soul and essence remains attractive to other souls and essences no matter what age you are. Nnnnnoooottttttt.

I liked Daniel Craig. I liked him as the South African mercenary in Munich and the tormented husband who fails to be a hero in Enduring love. After this movie, I respect and love him even more. He is not just the new James Bond. He is not all about doing characters that will make him a whole load of cash and it is not about always looking good. He is willing to explore other characters that will expand him and bring him that much closer to understanding the human condition.

Daniel Craig, if you ever are around these parts of the world and are looking a good conversation and whatever else, hey look me up!

The Mother is currently out on DVD if anyone is interested. Whatever Freudian questions come up just ignore and enjoy!

4 spoons!

OSCAR NOMINATIONS - 2008

2008-01-23T09:33:00.000+02:00

Best motion picture of the year
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney for Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises

Best performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie for Away from Her
Marion Cotillard for La môme (La vie en rose)
Laura Linney for The Savages
Ellen Page for Juno

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There.
Ruby Dee for American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan for Atonement
Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton

Best achievement in directing
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman for Juno
Julian Schnabel for Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Best writing, screenplay written directly for the screen
Juno: Diablo Cody
Lars and the Real Girl: Nancy Oliver
Michael Clayton: Tony Gilroy
Ratatouille: Brad Bird
The Savages: Tamara Jenkins

Best writing, screenplay based on material previously produced or published
Atonement: Christopher Hampton
Away from Her: Sarah Polley
Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly): Ronald Harwood
No Country for Old Men: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood: Paul Thomas Anderson

Best achievement in cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Roger Deakins
Atonement: Seamus McGarvey
No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins
Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly): Janusz Kaminski
There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit

Best achievement in editing
The Bourne Ultimatum: Christopher Rouse
Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly): Juliette Welfling
Into the Wild: Jay Cassidy
No Country for Old Men: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
There Will Be Blood: Dylan Tichenor, Tatiana S Riegel

Best achievement in art direction
American Gangster: Arthur Max
Atonement: Sarah Greenwood
The Golden Compass: Dennis Gassner
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Dante Ferretti
There Will Be Blood: Jack Fisk

Best achievement in costume design
Across the Universe: Albert Wolsky
Atonement: Jacqueline Durran
Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Alexandra Byrne
La môme (La vie en rose): Marit Allen
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Colleen Atwood

Best achievement in make-up
La môme (La vie en rose): Didier Lavergne, Loulia Sheppard
Norbit: Rick Baker
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Ve Neill, Martin Samuel

Best achievement in music written for motion pictures, original score
Atonement: Dario Marianelli
Into the Wild: Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder
Michael Clayton: James Newton Howard
Ratatouille: Michael Giacchino
3:10 to Yuma: Marco Beltrami

Best achievement in music written for motion pictures, original song
August Rush: Raise It Up
Enchanted: Happy Working Song
Enchanted: So Close
Enchanted: That's How You Know
Once: Falling Slowly

Best achievement in sound
The Bourne Ultimatum: Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis
No Country for Old Men: Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F Kurland
Ratatouille: Randy Thom, Michael Semanick, Vince Caro, Doc Kane
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers: Kevin O'Connell, Greg P Russell, Peter J Devlin

Best achievement in sound editing
The Bourne Ultimatum: Karen M Baker, Per Hallberg
No Country for Old Men: Skip Lievsay
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood: Matthew Wood, Christopher Scarabosio
Transformers: Mike Hopkins, Ethan van der Ryn

Best achievement in visual effects
The Golden Compass: Michael L Fink, Susan MacLeod, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: John Knoll, Hal T Hickel, Charlie Gibson, John Frazier
Transformers: Scott Farrar, Shari Hanson, Russell Earl, Scott Benza

Best animated feature film of the year
Persepolis: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Ratatouille: Brad Bird
Surf's Up: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck

Best foreign-language film of the year
Die Fälscher (Austria)
Beaufort (Israel)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
Katyn (Poland)
12 (Russia)

Best documentary, features
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War Dance

Best documentary, short subjects
Freeheld
La Corona
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Best short film, animated
Même les pigeons vont au paradis
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Moya lyubov
Peter & the Wolf

Best short film, live action
At Night
Il Supplente
Le Mozart des pickpockets
Tanghi argentini
The Tonto Woman

Thanks www.mg.co.za

Lion King

2008-01-20T07:33:00.000+02:00

If you’ve seen the cartoon, you will love this. But this is just so much bigger than the cartoon. It is so much bigger than Disney and Elton John and Lebo M. This was one of the most incredible theatrical experiences of my life.

The opening act on its own almost got me balling, doing the ugly cry, but I fought with all my might and tried to experience the show through my glistening eye balls.
Now, it’s all about the costumes and the puppets. ( I am sure you’ve seen the documentaries on this). The music is there and it is great but I learnt the music word for word, even the script from the original Lion King sound track. I could sing along and know where all the punch lines are and all of that.

But to see that image of the cartoon translated in such an incredible way into a stage production was amazing.

The greatest t criticism that I get is that I have not travelled and therefore am lacking in my education. But when this kind of production comes to SA and it lives up, no surpasses (!), everything I ever imagined about a particular story, then I do not feel so disadvantaged. The mountain has come to Moses.

I think what made the show for me was the way that it penetrated the audience. As you are sitting there watching in the audience, you suddenly see these incredible spectacles coming down the rows, the elephant, oh, the elephant. The scale of this production is just unimaginable. The puppets! The hyenas, the simple grass!

There are a few things to note, adult simba is gay, and Sello does not make the best choice of Mufasa but it is not even about that. He blends in and contributes to a great South African show.

Even now, three weeks after seeing it, whenever I catch myself in the mirror I look and perform the lion mannerisms.

But why is it, even in SA, hakuna mathatha is still pronounced that way? Maybe they could have found a better catch phrase?

A big change they made with the characters was that for Timone. Nathan Lane did it one way. The SA version is different and I kind of like it. The witch doctor and Whoopi Goldberg’s hyena character are also different and it works. All in all, it is the best thing on stage in the country’s stage at the moment.

The production ends in February and if you can, go and see it. If it comes to Cape Town, I am definitely there!

Heartwarmer, did you go see it a second time?

Let’s play who would kick her ass!

2008-01-16T10:34:00.000+02:00

We put female TV characters together and imagine who would kick whose ass.

For example, Ally Mcbeal’s ass can be could be kicked by basically any one including Joan of Arcadia who is still in high school.

Olivia Benson in Law and Order SVU, trumps all, she can kick anybody’s ass from here to the other side of Tuesday.

But imagine these fights, who do you think would win? If you have an interesting combination, let me know.

Ally Macbeal vs Grace (Will and Grace) – Grace would fall for Ally’s pout giving Ally an opportunity to sucker punch grace on the nose. But as Grace falls back her hair hits Ally in the eye and they both go down.

Amy’s mom (Judging Amy) vs Judge Judy? – tell each other to shut up and each tries to take the moral higher ground but there is only space for one at the top of the moral summit. Amy’s mom gives judge Judy a gently nudge with her hip and judge Judy goes tumbling down the moral mountain.

Cristina Yang (Grey’s Anatomy) VS Gabrielle Solis (Desperate Housewives) – One of the dirtiest fights that you will ever see. I am not sure who would win though?

Natasha "Tasha" Yar - Chief of security and tactical officer (Star Trek Next Generation) VS Buffy the vampire slayer. Tasha would just vapourise Buffy I think. She would not stand a chance.

I am Legend

2008-01-15T05:08:00.000+02:00

This, and let’s call it what it is, a vampire movie(!), had me salivating at the mouth, in anticipation of a sci fi thriller. That there would be the pondering of the question, what if you were the last man on earth question and presenting very interesting possibilities.

I was looking forward to seeing this one especially after Heartwarmer said she had seen it twice because it was so amazing.

I suppose I just need to get it into my head that me and Heartwarmer just do not have the same taste, she can warm my heart anytime but I would be a Brokensword if she had to choose movies for me. I think on the odd occasion we would agree, like Driving lessons, I thought it was great too, and Hannibal rising we agree was shyte! But most times, eish.

So, I am Legend was great effects and all and it was shit scary. But I hate it when a movie is weakly dressed up as something else. This is a vampire movie with a different beginning. That’s it that’s all.

Having gotten that off my chest, I think it was pretty good and scary and more could have been done. There must be other things that are more interesting that would emanate from being left alone too long would there not be? Like no need for clothes?J. But I suppose reciting the dialogue of Shrek was funny.

The vampires were great! Will is also looking very well cut. And the crying thing, man… I don’t know.