HahahahahahahahhaHANCOCK!

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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