Showing all posts about legacy
Takeaway coffee cups that let you have your cake and eat it
30 July 2012
I’m all for reusable takeaway coffee cups, or keep cups, in principle, after all we should be trying to conserve resources whenever possible. Thing is I’m not always carrying mine — if I can even find it some days — so the question remains, how not to be too wasteful while still ordering take out coffee, or your beverage of choice?
Edible coffee cups however, as designed by Enrique Luis Sardi, and made from biscuit, or cookie mix, with a sugar icing lining that stops the coffee steeping away, may be the solution.
If these cups could also be made with other food stuffs, such as say banana or raisin bread, then we might be able to significantly cut back on single-use disposable cups.
Originally published Monday 30 July 2012.
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The billboard artworks of Robert Montgomery
8 June 2012
London based artist Robert Montgomery takes billboards, both in use and disused, and turns them into oversize canvases to make a variety of observations on day to day life.
Originally published Friday 8 June 2012.
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art, legacy, Robert Montgomery
When galaxies collide, coming to the night sky in four billion years
4 June 2012
Several billion years hence our galaxy, the Milky Way, will collide with galactic neighbour Andromeda, and form a new entity some are calling Milkomeda. This NASA image depicts key steps in the process, and if nothing else will transform the night sky into a visual spectacle.
Not that anyone will probably be around to think about it anyway, but the night sky will have far less appeal once the merger is complete. The bright white haze (in the last frame) that will eventually take the place of the Milky Way (first frame) looks a little bland to me.
Via NASA Science.
Originally published Monday 4 June 2012.
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astronomy, legacy, milkomeda, Milky Way
French illustrator Mega’s new take on the alphabet
14 May 2012
Image courtesy of Mega.
Paris based illustrator and street artist Mega, whose work I’ve mentioned before, recently launched I Just Murdered The Alphabet, a new project that will see him create a new illustration each day for five months.
Inspired variously by graffiti, sign painting, and psychedelic art, Mega’s new series of works are a tribute to hip-hop culture, and also an introduction to an intriguing, though imaginary, tribe that seeks to set itself apart from mainstream society.
Originally published Monday 14 May 2012.
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The Way, a film by Emilio Estevez, with Martin Sheen, James Nesbitt
23 April 2012
Still from The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez.
People have been walking the Camino de Santiago, or Camino, an 800 kilometre long track from the Pyrenees in France, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in the Spanish town Galicia, for over a thousand years. Many are Christian pilgrims on spiritual retreats, while others walk the scenic pathway purely for leisure.
American eye doctor Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) finds himself on the historic trail for other reasons however, in The Way (trailer), the latest feature of American filmmaker Emilio Estevez (The War at Home, Bobby). Estevez also plays Tom’s adult son, the free-spirited Daniel, who dies during a storm soon after embarking on the long trek.
Intent on walking the path alone in remembrance of Daniel, Tom isn’t exactly overjoyed to run into the same people repeatedly. They include Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a Dutchman trying to lose weight, Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), a Canadian escaping from an abusive marriage, and Jack (James Nesbitt), a struggling Irish writer.
The four eventually end up walking as a group, and in their own ways are able to be of help to each other. Tom however remains the most aloof of the quartet, and the most prone to bad tempered outbursts, as he struggles to come to terms with his grief, while harbouring a lingering ambivalence towards his trekking companions.
On one hand The Way is a warming portrayal the ancient Camino, and the people who travel along it, and their quest for whatever it is that they are seeking. Many of the situations that Tom and his co-walkers find themselves in will doubtless be familiar to anyone who has spent time backpacking, regardless of where they’ve been.
Yet it’s as if the grimness of Tom’s trudge, and the varying despair of those accompanying him, wasn’t quite enough for the screenwriters, who seemed to decide the story was want of a little more tension. The solution however, mainly in the form of Tom’s frequent meltdowns, comes across as contrived, and at odds with the consoling calm of the Camino.
Originally posted Monday 23 April 2012.
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Deborah Kara Unger, Emilio Estevez, film, James Nesbitt, legacy, Martin Sheen, Yorick van Wageningen
Burning Man, a film by Jonathan Teplitzky, with Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic
21 November 2011
Burning Man, trailer, a comedy drama, is the third feature of Sydney based Australian film director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex, Gettin’ Square). Set in present day Sydney, Burning Man is partly autobiographical, based on Teplitzky’s own experiences, and explores personal loss and grief.
Tom (Matthew Goode) is a man who seems to have it all. He is a successful chef who owns a highly regarded restaurant at the iconic Bondi Beach. He is married to the beautiful Sarah (Bojana Novakovic), and lives in a cottage in a leafy city fringe suburb, which the couple share with their eight year old son, Oscar (Jack Heanly).
Tom leads a leads a tightly scheduled, chaotic, life. He’s impatient, impulsive, hot-headed, and often obnoxious. But after tragedy strikes, Tom’s life veers off the rails spectacularly, leaving him trying to put the pieces back together, and come to terms with what has happened.
In his heartbreak he seeks solace through a succession of liaisons with sex workers, women he meets randomly, and even mothers of Oscar’s friends, if he can manage it. And while friends and family including Karen (Essie Davis), and Brian (Anthony Hayes), try to help, Tom remains inconsolable.
Tom becomes ever more self-absorbed as he recalls earlier and happier days. His puzzled son, meanwhile, wonders why they live in motels instead of at home, which Tom quite abruptly sold. Not helping are unsettling illusions of fire and flame that Tom sees with disturbing regularity.
Burning Man throws audiences in the deep end with a racing opening sequence that stitches together various of the film’s key scenes. While I have no problem with non-linear narratives, L’appartement and Mulholland Drive, for instance, are great instances of the form, here the result is confusing and disorientating.
While Burning Man disparate threads eventually find a place, and even if there is a certain intrigue in trying to work out their significance, it’s at the cost of what could have been an effecting exposé into an almost destructive trauma. Solid performances, and striking camera work, especially a time-lapse like car crash scene, are however pluses.
Originally published on Monday 21 November 2011.
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Bojana Novakovic, film, Jonathan Teplitzky, legacy, Matthew Goode, Rachel Griffiths
Something that really cooks: Michael J Fox replays Johnny B. Goode
17 November 2011
Michael J. Fox who played Marty McFly in Back To The Future, recently re-performed Chuck Berry’s 1958 hit Johnny B. Goode at A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson, an annual event staged by his foundation that supports research into Parkinson’s disease.
Fox’s, or rather McFly’s, rendition of Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment under the sea dance in 1955, is one of the (fictitious) historical events I’d like to witness. It’d also be an opportunity to be a dance floor innovator/early adopter, by showing 1950’s dance-goers a whole new way to trip the light fantastic.
Originally published Thursday 17 November 2011
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film, legacy, Michael J Fox, music, video
Margaret and David, At the Movies, Hayden Orpheum, Sydney, 2011
4 November 2011
Last Wednesday night, 2 November 2011, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, two of Australia’s best known film critics, spoke at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne. The special event was part of celebrations marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of their working partnership.
Usually referred to as Margaret and David, the pair presented The Movie Show on SBS Television from 1986 until 2004, and since then At the Movies, on the ABC.
Their association with film isn’t restricted to television work though. Stratton writes reviews for The Australian newspaper, and lectures in film history at the University of Sydney. Pomeranz, meanwhile, is known for her work with anti-censorship lobby, Watch on Censorship.
I’ve seen both at various film events in recent years. I saw Pomeranz speak with Stephen Frears, director of Tamara Drewe, earlier this year. Stratton, whom I occasionally see at some of the preview screenings I go to, interviewed Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, who starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey, in September 2006, also at the Hayden.
And after twenty-five years they certainly have much to say about the film industry, both in Australia and overseas. Not all of their thoughts are positive though. Both feel the rise of multiplexes have drained the movie going experience of its charm, something I agree with. That point comes into clear focus, particularly, at a place like the Hayden, which is certainly no multiplex.
Both were also critical of the work of many directors in France, Italy, and the United States, previously influential centres of filmmaking. Stratton went so far as to suggest a correlation between a society’s lack of imagination and its decline. However they had much praise for the work of Eastern filmmakers, particularly those in Japan, Korea, and China.
It’s difficult to ignore the contribution Pomeranz and Stratton have made, individually and collectively, to the Australian film industry, to say nothing of forging a successful professional partnership for so long. Despite this, I am often baffled by the ratings they accord to some of the films they review.
In my opinion, some decidedly poor efforts have received high-praise. On other occasions, their individual ratings of a film are at odds with each other. One, say, awards a film four stars (out of five), while the other offers two stars. Still, when it comes to film, it is, as Stratton says, all a matter of taste. It should be noted I still read the transcripts of their show each week regardless of my qualms.
Rounding out the evening was a preview screening of Tomas Alfredson’s new film Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy, which is scheduled for release in Australia in January 2012. This is something I will write more about at another time.
Originally published Friday 4 November 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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Australian film, David Stratton, film, legacy, Margaret Pomeranz
Caught Inside, a film by Adam Blaiklock, with Ben Oxenbould, Daisy Betts
10 October 2011
Still from Caught Inside, a film by Adam Blaiklock.
Caught Inside, trailer, a psychological thriller, is the debut feature of Australian film director Adam Blaiklock, who co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Tomaszewski and Joe Velikovsky. The film, which won the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2010, is presently screening in limited release in Australian cinemas.
Set in Bali, and the seas off Indonesia, Caught Inside follows a group of long-time friends who sail to a remote island for twelve days. Drinking and fishing are on the agenda, along with surfing at a little known location called “the butchery”, named for the spectacular surfing waves in the vicinity.
While usually a boys only getaway, Toobs (Simon Lyndon) contravenes the long standing no girls tradition by bring girlfriend Alex (Leeanna Walsman), and her friend Sam (Daisy Betts), along. While the girls don’t much bother Bobby (Sam Lyndon), and youngster Grom (Harry Cook), Bull (Ben Oxenbould), does not feel the same way.
Nonetheless the group sets sail with Skipper Joe (Peter Phelps) at the helm, and after a night of partying Bull begins to warm to the girls, particularly the single Sam. A story about a certain video featuring her that went viral online further piques Bull’s interest, but his efforts to win her attention are thwarted by Bobby, who has caught Sam’s eye.
Upon reaching the supposedly secret surfing spot, the group is surprised to find a lone European surfer residing on the nearby secluded island, who worse still, appears to have claimed “the butchery” as his. This act of “trespass” enrages Bull, who is also becoming increasingly agitated by the amount of time Bobby and Sam are spending together.
After Bull boils over, Skipper Joe leaves him on the island alone overnight to cool down. Bull, convinced Sam likes him over Bobby, returns to the yacht in the darkness, which is moored some distance off shore, and is determined that nothing, or no one, will stand between the two of them.
At first glance, Caught Inside seems to tread familiar ground, whereby a group of people, cut off somehow from the outside world, find themselves contending with a violent psychopath. But Caught Inside sets itself apart from similar stories, by not quite going the way that might be expected.
Indeed Caught Inside pushes against the weight of its run-of-the-mill expectations to advantage, generating an unsettling foreboding and suspense. Solid performances, especially from Ben Oxenbould, and striking cinematography, which includes some impressive, if disquieting, underwater shots, further buoy the story.
Originally published Monday 10 October 2011
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Adam Blaiklock, Ben Oxenbould, Daisy Betts, film, legacy
From the inside looking out, the anatomy of a box office flop
2 September 2011
Sean Hood, screenplay co-writer of recently released — and less than spectacularly received — Conan the Barbarian, describes how a movie that flops feels from the point of view of its producers.
By about 9 PM it’s clear when your “candidate” has lost by a startlingly wide margin, more than you or even the most pessimistic political observers could have predicted. With a movie its much the same: trade magazines like Variety and Hollywood Reporter call the weekend winners and losers based on projections. That’s when the reality of the loss sinks in, and you don’t sleep the rest of the night.
What a horrid feeling. But do read Hood’s full article, there’s hope in there amongst the despair.
Originally published Friday 2 September 2011.
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