I had heard that The Shins were not a particularly animated band live, and I found this to be true, though it was still a good concert experience. They were musically *beautiful*; the band plays together very well, the trademark lovely melodies were present, and there was a good atmosphere. The crowd was very enthusiastic and loyal, and as mellow as expected.
Some of the arrangements were interesting, such as 'New Slang' becoming rather sombre in a slightly slowed down version, while Caring is Creepy' was also slower but it was nicer that way, I felt. And I also picked up a few new favourites; I think my two favourite moments of the night were an incredibly joyful rendition of 'Saint Simon' (everyone singing along with the la-la-lahs), and a beautiful moving performance of 'The Past and Pending'.
Sleeping Lessons
Australia
When I Goose-Step
Kissing the Lipless
Gone for Good
New Slang
Pressed in a Book
Girl Sailor
Mine's Not a High Horse
Turn a Square
A Comet Appears
Girl Inform Me
Saint Simon
Turn On Me
Pam Berry
Phantom Limb
Know Your Onion!
Breathe (Pink Floyd cover)
Caring Is Creepy
The Past and Pending
So Says I
Friday, August 10, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Cobra Starship / The Academy Is... - 7 Aug 2007 - UNSW Roundhouse
Cobra Starship are 500% awesome (100% for each member of the band). I don't think I’ve had so much fun during a set for ages. They were were good musicians but didn’t take themselves too seriously; also, they were obviously enjoying themselves on stage, and knew how to bring everyone along for the ride. I was on side of Vicky T (keytar) and Alex (bass), but I had a better view of Ryland (guitar) and Gabe (lead singer). Actually I had a great view of Gabe, which was all important, because Gabe's dancing was *hilarious* and Gabe in general was very funny and scarily charming. He also talks very very fast in a loose way, seemingly verbalising everything in his mind between songs, keeping up a very natural banter.
They only had one album out (the dancetastic While The City Sleeps We Rule the Streets) so the set list was a best of. I would’ve been happy for them to play every single song off the album and keep on being awesome.
Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Keep It Simple
It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed
The Kids Are All F****d Up
It's Warmer In The Basement
The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl
The Church Of Hot Addiction
Hollaback Boy
Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)
I must admit, I was definitely more there for Cobra Starship than The Academy Is… But I’d paid my monies, and I’m a completist if not a real fan, so I stayed. I enjoyed them in the songs where they were rocking out (like 'We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands' and 'You Might Have Noticed'), but I had to hear an equal number of songs that annoyed me greatly , in particular the overly sincere ballads like 'Everything We Had' (the lyrics they make me want to cry). The highlight though was the first song of the encore, with just William, Michael on guitar, and their drummer (The Butcher) harmonising very nicely.
Oddly enough, considering they shared the same (Aussie) sound tech, the sound was rather muddy for TAI but nicely clear for CS. And I get it, they have Aussies on tour with them (aforementioned sound dude, plus their new guitarist Michael Guy Chislett - a Sydney boy who used to play for the Hillsong band, go figure), but did they really have to mention it in every lull?
The Phrase That Pays
LAX to O'Hare
Slow Down
Classifieds
Black Mamba
We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands
Seed
Bulls in Brooklyn
Everything We Had
You Might Have Noticed
Neighbours
Checkmarks
40 Steps
Almost Here
They only had one album out (the dancetastic While The City Sleeps We Rule the Streets) so the set list was a best of. I would’ve been happy for them to play every single song off the album and keep on being awesome.
Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Keep It Simple
It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed
The Kids Are All F****d Up
It's Warmer In The Basement
The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl
The Church Of Hot Addiction
Hollaback Boy
Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)
I must admit, I was definitely more there for Cobra Starship than The Academy Is… But I’d paid my monies, and I’m a completist if not a real fan, so I stayed. I enjoyed them in the songs where they were rocking out (like 'We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands' and 'You Might Have Noticed'), but I had to hear an equal number of songs that annoyed me greatly , in particular the overly sincere ballads like 'Everything We Had' (the lyrics they make me want to cry). The highlight though was the first song of the encore, with just William, Michael on guitar, and their drummer (The Butcher) harmonising very nicely.
Oddly enough, considering they shared the same (Aussie) sound tech, the sound was rather muddy for TAI but nicely clear for CS. And I get it, they have Aussies on tour with them (aforementioned sound dude, plus their new guitarist Michael Guy Chislett - a Sydney boy who used to play for the Hillsong band, go figure), but did they really have to mention it in every lull?
The Phrase That Pays
LAX to O'Hare
Slow Down
Classifieds
Black Mamba
We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands
Seed
Bulls in Brooklyn
Everything We Had
You Might Have Noticed
Neighbours
Checkmarks
40 Steps
Almost Here
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Run Rabbit Run
Petstarr (of Bland Canyon) takes the popular 'Run Rabbit Run' ad for Visit Victoria, and gives it new meaning (horror movie style) by re-soundtracking it to Donnie Darko music. It's definitely a more sinister view of the same images (not that it wasn't a little...creepy to start with).
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
when funny people go nuts...
Don't Have A Cow, Man...
I thought this was a very funny joke, but googling "Judd Apatow", "Mark Brazill" and "emails" gets you a whole slew of articles about how they're *real* emails full of real, insane venom between two people who might once have been friends. This is what happens when people are passive agressive, methinks.
I thought this was a very funny joke, but googling "Judd Apatow", "Mark Brazill" and "emails" gets you a whole slew of articles about how they're *real* emails full of real, insane venom between two people who might once have been friends. This is what happens when people are passive agressive, methinks.
reruns #1
An article on social networking that I find fascinating: A Group Is Its Own Enemy
It looks at social interaction online and the software that supports these kinds of interactions; but more than that, it delves into the fact that the way people relate and interact online forms both the bonds that grow a group and also tends to lead to the groups' own destruction at the same time, because of the mistaken assumptions made about how technology will/can/should change the way people behave.
It looks at social interaction online and the software that supports these kinds of interactions; but more than that, it delves into the fact that the way people relate and interact online forms both the bonds that grow a group and also tends to lead to the groups' own destruction at the same time, because of the mistaken assumptions made about how technology will/can/should change the way people behave.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007, d. David Yates)
This adaptation of the fifth book in the series is a decent addition to the Harry Potter film franchise, sitting somewhere between the best so far (Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban) and the terribly earnest and plodding Chris Columbus' pictures at the start. Considering the massive length of the original book, great effort has been made to prune the storyline to a manageable movie run time, and the abbreviated plot in addition to the choppy editing gives it an uneven episodic feel, a chain of scenes without enough connection between, and causing some scenes to drag as they lacked the necessary urgency and drive towards the next. The setting is beautifully filmed, as always - Hogwarts portrayed amongst misty moors and plunging ravines in different climes - but Yates resorts, a few too many times I feel, to ending scenes with swooping shots from the ensuing action to the scenery without giving any meaning to either.
The most problematic sections are the beginning and the end, where the action deviates greatly from the book, mostly to the detriment of logic and continuity. They are particularly glaring and frustrating in the climax, where the important theme of love is hammered home to the audience by having Harry declare it in a ridiculous speech expressing his internal struggle against Voldemort's possession, which broke the dramatic tension! Overall, I didn’t like the final battle at all; in the book, these scenes demonstrate one of the best written fight/climaxes of the whole series, with the utter chaos and power on show from both the adults and the children, but the movie chooses to focus solely on Harry's struggle and it lessened the traumatic impact, the pain and darkness, of the ending.
In contrast, the DA scenes during the movie were wonderful, as they show how Harry had grown as a person at this point – both in magical skill and also in his understanding of the seriousness of the situation - and visually it managed to be both informative about the other students and their skills in fighting, which is important considering what parts they play in later books, as well as being playful. The same comfortable chemistry was encouragingly present in the scenes between the core trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron. However, the children's acting seemed to be improving imperceptibly - Rupert Grint continues to mug/mope for the camera giving Ron a perpetual infantile two-dimensional feel; Dan Radcliffe, well, yikes, learn a new expression!; and in stark contrast, Emma Watson tries so hard to emote with her face that her eyebrows are now almost a separate character.
The most problematic sections are the beginning and the end, where the action deviates greatly from the book, mostly to the detriment of logic and continuity. They are particularly glaring and frustrating in the climax, where the important theme of love is hammered home to the audience by having Harry declare it in a ridiculous speech expressing his internal struggle against Voldemort's possession, which broke the dramatic tension! Overall, I didn’t like the final battle at all; in the book, these scenes demonstrate one of the best written fight/climaxes of the whole series, with the utter chaos and power on show from both the adults and the children, but the movie chooses to focus solely on Harry's struggle and it lessened the traumatic impact, the pain and darkness, of the ending.
In contrast, the DA scenes during the movie were wonderful, as they show how Harry had grown as a person at this point – both in magical skill and also in his understanding of the seriousness of the situation - and visually it managed to be both informative about the other students and their skills in fighting, which is important considering what parts they play in later books, as well as being playful. The same comfortable chemistry was encouragingly present in the scenes between the core trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron. However, the children's acting seemed to be improving imperceptibly - Rupert Grint continues to mug/mope for the camera giving Ron a perpetual infantile two-dimensional feel; Dan Radcliffe, well, yikes, learn a new expression!; and in stark contrast, Emma Watson tries so hard to emote with her face that her eyebrows are now almost a separate character.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Blades of Glory / Transformers
Blades of Glory (2007, d. Will Speck, Josh Gordon)
As any iceskating fan knows, deep in their heart, it is a sport ripe for mocking. Some parts of the movie were just so spot on in its ridiculousness (the costumes! the over-the-top commentary!) though as a satire it needed to be sharper and more critical. It works quite well just as a visually amusing and irreverant comedy it works quite well. The absurdist humour is hilarious, a great example being the ice-skate chase towards the climax, though it also serves to highlight the strength and weaknesses of the cast and the script. Will Ferrell (as Chazz Michael Michaels) does a great job as the annoyingly arrogant skater-jock; as his nemesis-turned-partner, Jon Heder (as Jimmy the effeminate epitome of male ice-skater) unfortunately doesn't manage to project much apart from a shaggy goodnatured bemusement. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler do their best as psuedo-incestuous skating rivals, and considering their comedic pedigree, could have been given more to do, particularly as they made the most of their brief scenes. Jenna Fischer was sweet and efficient, but about as memorable as her counterpart in her role as the object of Jimmy's affection.
Transformers (2007; d. Michael Bay)
This was highly enjoyable; early expectations were only to be entertained by something flashy and dumb and noisy, and yes it was all that, but somehow managed to be more.
The first attack at the beginning sets the tone so well - an awesome set-up of action and explosions, tense and gloriously tummy-crunching as the badass Decepticon proceeds to destroy a desert army base - and the energy rarely flags after this. The special effects in this were amazing - the transformations are complex but not clunky, visually interesting but not unbelievable.
More suprisingly, the screenplay, while maintaining broad appeal with that brand of action-movie cheesiness at times, is never risible, blending fanboy-pleasing references to the original and a wise-cracking sense of humour, helped along by Shia LeBeouf's great knack of playing fast-talking, adorably neurotic teens. The romantic subplot is not intrusively irksome, even if it does feel terribly convenient that Megan Fox's character is the complete package - hot, bitchy, scantily-clad AND mechanically minded - though it was refreshing enough that she played a major active role in the finale. The most disturbing aspect of their relationship was **spoiler** when Sam and Mikaela were making out on top of Bumblebee at the end....THE CAR IS SENTIENT.
As any iceskating fan knows, deep in their heart, it is a sport ripe for mocking. Some parts of the movie were just so spot on in its ridiculousness (the costumes! the over-the-top commentary!) though as a satire it needed to be sharper and more critical. It works quite well just as a visually amusing and irreverant comedy it works quite well. The absurdist humour is hilarious, a great example being the ice-skate chase towards the climax, though it also serves to highlight the strength and weaknesses of the cast and the script. Will Ferrell (as Chazz Michael Michaels) does a great job as the annoyingly arrogant skater-jock; as his nemesis-turned-partner, Jon Heder (as Jimmy the effeminate epitome of male ice-skater) unfortunately doesn't manage to project much apart from a shaggy goodnatured bemusement. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler do their best as psuedo-incestuous skating rivals, and considering their comedic pedigree, could have been given more to do, particularly as they made the most of their brief scenes. Jenna Fischer was sweet and efficient, but about as memorable as her counterpart in her role as the object of Jimmy's affection.
Transformers (2007; d. Michael Bay)
This was highly enjoyable; early expectations were only to be entertained by something flashy and dumb and noisy, and yes it was all that, but somehow managed to be more.
The first attack at the beginning sets the tone so well - an awesome set-up of action and explosions, tense and gloriously tummy-crunching as the badass Decepticon proceeds to destroy a desert army base - and the energy rarely flags after this. The special effects in this were amazing - the transformations are complex but not clunky, visually interesting but not unbelievable.
More suprisingly, the screenplay, while maintaining broad appeal with that brand of action-movie cheesiness at times, is never risible, blending fanboy-pleasing references to the original and a wise-cracking sense of humour, helped along by Shia LeBeouf's great knack of playing fast-talking, adorably neurotic teens. The romantic subplot is not intrusively irksome, even if it does feel terribly convenient that Megan Fox's character is the complete package - hot, bitchy, scantily-clad AND mechanically minded - though it was refreshing enough that she played a major active role in the finale. The most disturbing aspect of their relationship was **spoiler** when Sam and Mikaela were making out on top of Bumblebee at the end....THE CAR IS SENTIENT.
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