Monday, September 25, 2006
Mat's facts
Mat: It's been pretty quiet here recently; I've been working full-time for the last three weeks in an office (shock) where I have to stay all day (double shock) and look smart (triple shock)! And now, just as I'm starting to get the hang of it, this is my last week.In other news I've started a new blog called Mat's Facts, which is a random collection of (mostly useless) facts that I discover. I'm not sure where it's heading at the moment, but I'm a bit of a fact-collector and so I guess it's my fact-treasure room.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
50 years of TV
Kat: Saturday was the 50th anniversary of TV in Australia, only 27 years behind the UK and just in time for the Melbourne Olympics. We went to the ACMI exhibition a couple of weeks ago, which had a massive wall of idiot boxes (750 in all) and several gigantic and very cool 'olden day' contraptions. Not all states got television straight away and it didn't arrive in Northern Territory till 1971 (I expect the moon landings were significantly less impressive on the radio). Colour TV in all its glory arrived in 1975.If you thought Neighbours and A Country Practice were the grubby tip of the otherwise pristine iceberg that is Australian broadcasting, you'd be sadly disappointed. Apart from the relatively recent Kath and Kim which I saw one episode of in NZ, there were no dazzling discoveries. Apparently (because our TV can't receive signals) there are two government owned networks (ABC and SBS) and three commercial ones (Seven, Nine and Ten). The adverts can't possibly be as bad as the Kiwi ones.
On the plus side, I listen religiously to Triple J radio station. There's a certain amount of repetition but nothing like Radio1, and the DJs aren't half as obnoxious either. There are also very cool slots such as Like a Version, acoustic covers of well known songs (this week was Kris Kross's Jump), and Dr Karl's weekly science phone-in.
And no, I hadn't forgotten it's Talk Like a Pirate Day - avast ye, scurvy dogs!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
SoaP
Of course SoaP was bad, but good-bad and great popcorn fodder. Candyfloss characters, paper-thin plot and - like it says on the tin - lots and lots of snakes on a plane. Mat started out helpfully naming all the species he could identify but stopped when it became clear that SoaP snakes bear little resemblance to real snakes. Today I learnt the phrase high concept - something which the film has in spades and definitely not to be confused high brow, which is what I initially thought it meant.
I'm not sure why Samuel L Jackson decided to star in a B-movie like this, but probably for the same reason we went it to watch it: it's a bit of stupid fun. The making of the film is the most interesting part - initially it was a minor movie, but so much buzz was generated on the internet that extra shooting was scheduled and the script changed in response to what fans were asking for. The punchline of the movie was even inspired by a parody.
Fans rewriting films that they haven't even seen yet? Whatever next!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Kids odd cistern of beliefs
The journalist who wrote the article suggested the photo idea to me, and so I met a photographer at Dracula's, a theme restaurant in town, who lent us the props and patiently held them up behind me.
Click the image to see the whole article.
Summer's on the way
Kat: All the Aussies we talk to about the weather (we have to talk about the weather, we're British) keep saying spring is on the way - what are they talking about? This *is* spring, summer is just round the corner! Friday was officially the first day of spring and yesterday was 25.5°C. Woohoo! I bought a pair of sunglasses and a hat with a wide brim in readiness. According to the Herald Sun, it's the warmest start to spring in 150 years.Of course it's raining now and 12°C.