The Prestige, a film by Christopher Nolan, with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale
30 November 2006
First an aside, I wonder if The Prestige was the team behind 2005’s Batman Begins deciding to apply their collective acting and producing talents to a completely different story? We have Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and director Christopher Nolan, all from Batman Begins, present here.
The Prestige traces the unhealthy obsession (is any obsession healthy though?) friends turned rivals, Alfred Borden (Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), have with each other’s magic acts, and the ends one will go to, so as to out do the other.
Caught up in this rivalry is Scarlett Johansson as stage assistant, Olivia, who becomes romantically involved with both men during the course of proceedings. And though I knew David Bowie was also in the movie, I didn’t recognise him as Tesla, an American inventor competing with Thomas Edison.
Originally published Thursday 30 November 2006.
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Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, film, Hugh Jackman, legacy, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson
Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, speak at 2001: A Space Odyssey screening, Sydney, Australia
1 October 2006
Anyone who has even once watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, could be forgiven for thinking the two lead actors, Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, who portray astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole respectively, mightn’t exactly be the life of the party, were they ever to meet them.
After all, nary a snigger, let alone the merest of smiles, is ever forth coming during their ill-fated deep-space voyage towards Jupiter. Aside from the BBC 12 interview that is, but such theatrics are referred to as spin in today’s post-2001 world.
Were you however to meet Dullea and Lockwood in person, you’d be forgiven for believing they were part of a comedy act. A latter day version of Laurel and Hardy, god help us, piloting humanity one-way through the final frontier. “It’s full of Aussies,” quipped Lockwood, to much amusement, as the actors walked on to the stage at the Orpheum theatre, in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne.
The actors were speaking at a special 2001 event held on the evening of Wednesday 27 September, 2006. The event also included a screening of the seventy millimetre version of the movie. “A very good print, actually,” Dullea told us.
And he was right, not only was the film visually stunning (as always), but the soundtrack really hit the audience in the face also. Never before has the Moon monolith’s electronic scream seemed so shrill, so high pitched, so prolonged.
The pair spoke with Australian film critic David Stratton, and for the most part talked candidly about almost, well everything. The conversation was laced with anecdotes about working with director Stanley Kubrick, and the movie itself.
There were plenty of asides, including discussion on the “science of acting”, with Lockwood insisting improvisation is not an acting method per se. Lockwood also told stories about meetings with people such as Orson Wells, John Lennon, and Neil Armstrong, over the years.
There was little doubt that the pair’s participation in 2001 was a highlight of both their acting careers. And how couldn’t taking part in the greatest movie of all time, not be? Greatest movie of all time?
Lockwood related once meeting someone — possibly not a fan of the film — who told him 2001 was ranked as the thirty-fourth greatest movie ever. “Oh yeah?” Lockwood had retorted, “well, name the thirty-three movies that come before 2001 then.”
If that’s not the greatest comeback of all time, what is?
Originally published Sunday 1 October 2006.
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2001: A Space Odyssey, David Stratton, film, Gary Lockwood, Keir Dullea, science fiction, Stanley Kubrick
Forty four degrees Celsius, I think that is a record for Sydney
1 January 2006
It’s almost midnight in Sydney. I think it’s safe to go outside now. Earlier today temperatures hit 44° Celsius. The last time I was in place that hot was Aswan, in Egypt.
44°C. That must be an all-time record for Sydney.
In other news, I’m pleased to report last night’s festivities were indeed festive. Seems quite a party was had at my apartment building too. When I arrived home today someone had ripped a fire extinguisher off the wall and sprayed most the common areas with it.
There’s fine white powder all over the stairs and on the roof top area.
Other than that I spent the day tinkering with disassociated, and slipping cool, cool beverages. Too hot for anything else, trust me. Happy New Year 🙂
Originally published Sunday, 1 January 2006.
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climate, climate change, environment, legacy, weather
Culture jamming street signs as a means of political protest
7 May 2005
Saw this on the way to work the other morning. Along Epsom Road, in the Sydney suburb of Rosebery. I don’t know how long it has been there, or how long it will remain. I wonder what the exact point is. It could mean a number of different things when you think about it…
Originally published Saturday 7 May 2005.
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Is this Erroll Bottrell’s statue in Centennial Park Sydney?
1 January 2005
I don’t know who Erroll Bottrell is, but he’s carved his name into eternity… on the base of a statue in Sydney’s Centennial Park.
But the statue is a strange sort of ornament all up. It sits on top of what might be a ten metre high pseudo classic Greek column, making it kind of difficult to see. It’s one of several similar objects located near Busby pond in the park, but bears no inscription or plaque explaining what it is, or why it’s there.
It reminds me a little of the classic English landscape folly, being an “architectural construction which isn’t what it appears to be”. Something built for a bit of fun only. Maybe this is an Australian variation of the idea? How very eccentric.
Perhaps Erroll Bottrell designed these ornaments, and inscribed his name into the base for posterity’s sake. Maybe he was just another visitor to the park, who was handy with a carving chisel, one he just happened to be carrying at the time.
Update: Here, possibly, may be some information about Mr Bottrell.
Originally published Saturday 1 January 2005.
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Pioneers 10 and 11 courses inexplicably varying at Kuiper Belt
15 September 2004
Something weird is happening out on the boundary of our solar system, an area called the Kuiper Belt, where NASA space probes Pioneers 10 and 11 are presently located.
Both deep space probes, launched over thirty years ago, traversed the inner region of the solar system almost exactly according to plan.
Since passing beyond the orbit of Pluto though, events have taken an unexpected turn: both probes appear to be inexplicably deviating from their projected courses.
And no one can work out why. Some scientists think long held ideas on the effects of gravity over extended distances may be need to be re-thought. Others say that both probes may be leaking gases, which is contributing to the change in their trajectories.
This mystery has led to calls for a new deep space mission to see what’s happening out at the Kuiper.
By fitting a Pioneer follow-up probe with new measuring equipment, navigational device and communications gear, it should be possible to discover if the probes are in the grip of a new force of nature.
A new force of nature? Perhaps Star Wars director George Lucas’ far, far, away galaxy may not be all that distant after all…
Originally published Wednesday 15 September 2004.
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Revenge of the nerds: on naming Star Wars movies
28 July 2004
After much speculation — and discussion, heated at times, among fans — the official title of the next instalment in the Star Wars™ saga has been announced: Revenge of the Sith.
But the first question that comes to my mind is: revenge for what? Since when were the Sith so hard done by that they felt the need to extract revenge? So far everything has gone their way. Their clandestine plan to take control of the galaxy has all but succeeded.
Unless of course we are referring to their (almost) complete annihilation centuries ago. Even then revenge seems to somewhat understate what they are trying to achieve now. The other factor being no original Sith remain from that time anyway.
So it’s not as if the latter day Sith are avenging the demise of any contemporaries. Their comrades have been dead a thousand years (or whatever). If revenge is indeed what the Sith are seeking, it is certainly a dish served cold. Very cold.
I’d have thought a title like Rise of the Sith, or Rise of the Empire, would have been more appropriate. Well I just could be right (if I may say so). One or other of those titles were apparently being considered, but a change was required.
Why? Because Star War’s secrets are among the worst kept in the galaxy. It can’t be much fun for series creator George Lucas when fans keep figuring out the title of one of the most anticipated movies of all time.
But why announce the title now? After all, the movie is not due for release until May 2005. I’m guessing as just about all possible names had already been guessed, it was better to go ahead and make the name official, lest it leak later on.
There’s also of course that most basic tenet of marketing to factor into the mix as well: all publicity is good publicity.
Originally published Wednesday 28 July 2004.
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film, legacy, science fiction, Star Wars
Email is email, spam is spiced ham, talk is talk
2 February 2004
Bill Gates has unveiled a gallant plan to rid the world of email spam. A noble undertaking. I am not being sarcastic. I sincerely hope he succeeds. Especially as it is now estimated that half of all emails sent are unsolicited.
How annoying is it too see there are ten new messages in your in box, but nine turn out to be crap. But I suspect I am on the thin end of the spam email wedge. Some people receive way more.
Now there is a proposal to charge for each individual email sent. This charge, or e-stamp, may be as low as one cent per message. Not a lot, but it may be enough to deter the spammers who send out millions of messages, once they have to start paying for the privilege.
While it won’t stop the most determined or cashed up operators, it would make a welcome respite nevertheless. Many small spam operators would not only have to pay, but also make their identity known, in order to purchase e-stamps. This might be enough to see them give up.
That in turn would vastly reduce the amount of spam messages in the email system. So yes, bring it on, I say. I’m all in favour of the idea.
But a charge for email could have all sorts of intriguing ramifications. Take interoffice email messages, for example. Would they be chargeable as well? I certainly hope so. Working in an office — to my mind — is no fun at the best of times, but it gets worse when your manager and colleagues, who usually sit close by, communicate only by email. What’s with these people?
Can’t we just gather around and talk? Apparently not.
It would appear that it is far easier to correspond by email. Well maybe not for much longer. If it’s going to cost for each one liner that is dispatched to the next cubicle, we may be confronted with the prospect of a ban on interoffice email. How awful.
I’m not anti-email for work based communication though. Nothing of the sort. It is a vital tool in many situations. There is a time and a place though. Especially where distance is a factor.
My whole working relationship with some clients is purely email based. It’s of course an effective and economic method of communicating. The difference here being that they are often interstate (even overseas), and not just over the other side of a cubicle wall.
Originally published Monday 2 February 2004.
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For the common good: creative commons licences
21 January 2004
Creative commons licences are a way of allowing your online work (e.g. writing, photography, graphics, or sound samples, etc) to be used by other people, provided certain conditions are adhered to. And all without affecting your original copyright entitlement.
There are several licences for content creators to choose from, depending on the degree to which they are willing to allow their work to be reused and distributed.
Creative commons licences seem like a sensible development in response to the growing amount of material that is published in the public domain that often finds itself in a grey copyright area.
These licences, as the by-line “some rights reserved” implies, does not render copyright null or void. Instead, they serve as a guideline (of sorts) as to how people accessing material in the public domain can re-use it for their own purposes.
Originally published Wednesday 21 January 2004.
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Tim Berners-Lee, a knight of the World Wide Web
4 January 2004
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, is to be knighted:
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), will be made a Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth. This was announced earlier today by Buckingham Palace as part of the 2004 New Year’s Honours list.
More much deserved recognition for someone who changed the way we communicate and share information.
Originally published Sunday 4 January 2004.
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