tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50459232011-06-08T16:46:03.992+10:00"I would just like to apologise"Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comBlogger1161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-77295551125320747602009-02-20T12:27:00.003+11:002009-03-02T17:35:19.706+11:00

Movie of the YearI can't pick out a movie of the year that was better than all the others. I was impressed by parts of Wall-E, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, El Orfanato (The Orphanage), and The Dark Knight. Forcing myself to pick one film out of thin air to be number 1, I'll pick The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. They stretched a pretty uninteresting Fitzgerald novella, and mixed in

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-8202817143262138112008-09-25T23:22:00.009+10:002008-09-27T10:19:09.002+10:00

I'm committed to my iPod.  iPods.  I rushed to get one when they were first released in Australia.  Then in 2006 I upgraded to one with a larger memory - 60GB.  And a month ago I did it again, swapping that one for a glorious new 160GB iPod (before Apple discontinued them and cut back to iPods with no more than 120GB).So I'm up to number 3, but before I passed my 2nd one on (to a deserving ebayer

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-49021293921702193332008-09-21T14:09:00.010+10:002008-09-27T10:15:08.644+10:00

Two months ago I helped with a social club function at work and got to make pizza and hook my iPod up to the soundsystem with a specially chosen 'Soul Party' playlist.  I was very happy with it, so want to keep the list for posterity:Al Green - Gotta Be More (Take Me Higher)Al Green - I Want To Hold Your HandAl Wilson - The SnakeAnn Peebles - I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse DownAretha Franklin -

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-16845773458613319202008-02-26T19:11:00.008+11:002008-02-27T17:36:24.354+11:00

The Oscars this year were a classy show, with awards spread across 11 deserving films, some very low budget (Juno cost only a few million, and the tiny Irish film Once cost way under $1million). All four acting awards went to non-Americans - first time it's happened since 1964 (when Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova won). Marion Cotillard winning a Best Actress award

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-14851314467396315212008-02-25T00:36:00.004+11:002008-02-27T17:38:38.446+11:00

Before the Oscars are handed out tomorrow, I need to announce some of my own awards, for the films of 2007. The Academy are said to be favouring No Country For Old Men, which I haven't seen yet. And I know there are plenty of other fine films I missed out on, but that's not a significant enough fact to stop ME giving MY opinion. Not at all. So I'll start with -My Movie of the YearLast year it was

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-57160996156356828602007-08-19T23:17:00.000+10:002007-08-19T23:24:56.662+10:00

Saw Bob Dylan's concert at the Entertainment Centre last wednesday night. It was a last minute thing. A friend desperately wanted to go, and didn't want to go alone. The tickets were too pricey for me, but she offered to pay for some of mine. So I couldn't say no.He was great. I couldn't understand what he was singing half the time, but it didn't matter much. The guy looks OLD, and frail as. But

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-68657918884558041982007-07-21T21:31:00.000+10:002007-07-21T21:41:09.050+10:00

I bought a dvd of the old Kimba The White Lion cartoon a while ago, and watched the first episode last weekend. I was a little surprised at just how much I still enjoyed it. The animation was always quite inventive (especially compared to the cheap children's cartoons that came out in the 80's like He-Man). And Kimba was one of THE cutest characters ever.And I also remembered loving the idea of

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-73965030440843760072007-07-21T21:23:00.000+10:002007-07-21T21:25:58.883+10:00

On good old Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) you can search for the year you were born, then choose 'Births', and it will show you all those people (though mainly american ones) who have become famous inthe same number of years it's taken you to get where you are now.I like my slacker crowd (of 1971).*** There's the SexySuper '71 Boys: Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G/Borat), Ewan

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-76289708093663677942007-07-09T21:45:00.000+10:002007-07-21T21:45:12.410+10:00

A number of Foxtel channels showed almost 24 hours of the Live Earth concerts on the weekend. It was highly watchable if you did as I did - digitally recording it and then fast forwarding through the constant ads for various Foxtel programs, and zipping past a couple of dud artists.Biggest and brightest show was in London, while Beijing's was rather awful - icky music and with a tiny audience. A

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-59057897440316339592007-06-25T20:59:00.001+10:002007-06-25T21:22:11.186+10:00

This is a grumble post.This was probably the most disappointing Sydney Film Festival I've known. There's a new woman in charge of picking films, and she didn't do a terrible job - the films weren't awful - it's just that none of them were great. Especially the films shown at the delicious State Theatre. Film after film of art-house-lite. Decent enough for passing the time of retired public

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-38388420939473369912007-06-25T20:53:00.000+10:002007-06-25T20:56:57.288+10:00

James Packer and Erica Baxter are married.Now is surely the time to close the Australian borders and cancel the passports of the entire wedding party, before any of them return. We'd be rid of the Packers, Alan Jones, Eddie Maguire, The Warnes, and most of the Murdochs. What an awful pack of people. They even invited the Cruises, just to make things extra creepy. Ick.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-71321665171342626442007-04-30T22:08:00.000+10:002007-05-02T21:44:25.963+10:00

We were out at the MTV music awards yesterday, wearing t-shirts with CREW written on the back of them (well Cade went without as they didn't have exactly enough to go around, which left him a bit miffed), assisting with siphoning disorderly teenagers into the mosh pit, where we got to join them once the show started.This was the second time we'd been to these awards. They're a bit odd, as the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-4448106289431016482007-03-18T22:14:00.000+11:002007-03-21T18:36:06.389+11:00

A number of weeks ago I got to attend a screening of a unfinished new Australian film Ten Empty, two-thirds of the way into it's editing period. It's set in Adelaide, stars mostly unfamiliar actors (Jack Thompson has a supporting role), and cost around $1million. It's a small-scale drama, and fairly interesting, though unfortunately it's yet another Australian film where ugly Australians hang out

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-6469626076212135952007-03-05T22:34:00.000+11:002007-03-05T22:54:37.416+11:00

The Oscars this year were very international, and most of the presenters were youngsters. I think they're holding back on the oldies for next year (the 80th oscars).* Was good to see Alan Arkin win for best supporting actor in Little Miss Sunshine. The guy's in his 70's now, and he's been giving good acting for years. Eddie Murphy had been the favourite (for no good reason), and he didn't take

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-42082056123346785502007-02-11T16:03:00.000+11:002007-02-11T16:01:13.181+11:00

We recently spent an extended weekend at Kangaroo Valley, in a group of holiday cabins up in the isolated hills.Besides being beautifully peaceful, and having a very handy pool (it was one of the hottest weekends of the summer), the most lovely thing about the place was the animals.There were the domestics - 2 donkeys, ducks, 4 chooks, 2 rabbits, and Miss Millie the pig (so cute! such an

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-13256323235808648212007-02-11T16:00:00.000+11:002007-02-11T23:06:58.382+11:00

2006 is gone! Time for some thoughts on it from the position of middle-brow cultural consumerism.Movies - There was a lot of good alternative stuff coming out of the US for a change, a little challenging, a little wacky - Borat, Little Miss Sunshine, United 93, An Inconvenient Truth, Shortbus, The Aristocrats. The Devil Wears Prada & Casino Royale were solid popcorn fun.Only saw one Australian

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-45234996691267400582007-01-09T10:32:00.000+11:002007-01-09T10:50:04.640+11:00

A few months ago I bought a chair to go on the front porch.Many afternoons I sit out there, reading a book as the sun goes down.Now, a local cat (collar-less), has taken to spending half the day on it. From a safe distance, she (I think it's a she) can comfortably watch everyone passing on the street.She's very friendly, likes a pat, and will chat if you talk to her.It doesn't seem to bother her

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1164028785292496122006-11-21T00:00:00.000+11:002006-11-21T23:14:28.840+11:00

Last thursday was lucky to FINALLY catch the great Chris Isaak playing at the Capitol Theatre. Last time he toured here I was out of Sydney, and the two times before that he sold out too fast. But this time I snagged a seat, exactly in the middle of the very last row.Chris was as smooth and charming as you'd imagine him to be.He was quite dressed up - a hot pink suit to start with, then a

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1163078105767879672006-11-10T00:12:00.000+11:002006-11-10T00:15:05.783+11:00

I've grown accustomed to visiting the flash sushi train downstairs for lunch 2 or 3 times a week now. I didn't like using their disposable chopsticks, as it's needlessly wasteful.Today I brought along my own pair for the first time (a handsome pair in a box which I bought when I lived in Japan). When I whipped them out there was giggly surprise from some of the staff. I think it's usually only

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1156064763790706092006-08-20T18:57:00.000+10:002006-08-20T19:08:48.540+10:00

A week & a half ago saw iOTA playing Hedwig (with his Angry Inch) at the Newtown RSL. We sat directly behind Tim Friedman (of The Whitlams) and his date. iOTA's performance (a bit Frankenfurter a bit 70's David Bowie) was very strong - an hour and a half of rockin' songs and monologues. Would be nice to see it get extended or even bumped up to a better theatre.Favourite songs - The Origin Of Love

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1152447827264467682006-07-09T22:00:00.000+10:002006-07-15T19:04:28.636+10:00

A week ago I used questionpro.com to survey my friends, getting results from 18 people (or maybe it should be 15 or 16, since I think some people accidentally did it twice!).THE RESULTS:* Most respondents were in Australia, though there was one response each from folks living in Canada, Italy, and the USA.* There were 5 votes for me to dye my hair chocolatey brown; 2 votes for black & dark blue;

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1151126920642069712006-06-24T15:24:00.000+10:002006-07-02T10:00:04.293+10:00

Made it to around 20 films this year at the Sydney Film Fest. Would have loved to see the Australian opening night film Ten Canoes but the $45 ticket price turned me off.I'll just comment on the better films - with maybe one or two exceptions.I didn't walk out on any films this year - though I did have to wake a patron who snored through one of the more tiresome documentaries!The first four films

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1148304684163652572006-05-22T23:28:00.000+10:002006-05-22T23:33:08.743+10:00

The Da Vinci Code movie is out, and tourists are flocking to Milan to see Da Vinci's The Last Supper. According to one of Dan Brown's puzzles, the face of one of the apostles looks like that of a woman, and people want to see this for themselves so they can go 'ah, it's true, Leonardo must have known something! How tricksy!'. What's particularly stupid about this is that nobody stops to point out

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1147689724043995842006-05-15T20:32:00.000+10:002006-05-15T20:56:48.506+10:00

There's a column by Paul Sheehan in today's Sydney Morning Herald about the recent fuss over the two Tasmanian miners recently freed from their underground cage.He wonders at the way the media has labelled them heroes, when they have their lives due to the good work of their rescuers. And that it's strange for the whole thing to be treated as a feel-good story when one guy was killed (though he's

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1146909610758801912006-05-06T19:37:00.000+10:002006-11-21T00:00:09.230+11:00

Found a number of pictures to enjoy at the Archibald Prize exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery today.* Loved the winner - The Paul Juraszek monolith by Marcus Wills. Dozens of Paul Juraszeks climbing about the stone face, with some of his sculptures dotted here and there. Unlike most modern portraits, I can imagine it still being interesting to look at in 20 or more years' time.As usual I didn't

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1142654639656249732006-03-18T14:30:00.000+11:002006-03-18T15:28:42.886+11:00

Bic Runga gave a beautiful 'australian album launch' concert at the State Theatre last night.'Birds' is her 3rd cd (my favourite would be her 2nd - Beautiful Collision).Recently I've been getting news of various deaths and births from my friends. The theme continued last night. First off I finished reading the Italian classic The Leopard (which I highly recommend), with it's moving ending of the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1142039957136215232006-03-11T11:57:00.000+11:002006-05-06T20:23:19.543+10:00

This week was Oscar time again.The Oscars were a fine affair this year - all until the final 5 freakin' minutes. But I'll leave that bit till last. (actually, if you're a Crash fan you might not want to read the end - I was not a happy chappy)* During the red carpet arrivals, Richard Wilkinsssssss wasn't too hard to take this year. Of course we had the sound turned off, which always helps when

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1140170897282291102006-02-17T20:29:00.000+11:002006-02-18T12:36:51.490+11:00

The eight folks arrested for protesting outside the Kerry Packer memorial should be very proud of themselves. Such good work. Nobody in the Australian media would risk their careers by saying publicly that they didn't approve of our taxes being used to send off the country's wealthiest man and proudest tax avoider, but the protesters at least got the issue into the news. And why did the police

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1137413190657440412006-01-16T23:04:00.000+11:002006-03-18T15:32:21.056+11:00

I read Annie Proulx's short story Brokeback Mountain yesterday.I got teary at the end - this is highly unusual. Sad endings in books generally just make me sad. They don't normally make me cry.There are lots of sad gay novels & short stories written by gay folks (generic plot 1 guy gets AIDS; generic plot 2 guy gets gay-bashed; generic plot 3 guy is disowned by his uptight family; generic plot 4

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1137412949225524262006-01-16T22:59:00.000+11:002006-01-18T00:40:46.326+11:00

I made this picture up to put on flickr.That's Guy Madison and Robert Mitchum in the original photo.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1137220567540508732006-01-14T17:29:00.000+11:002006-03-18T14:27:22.590+11:00

Here's my End Of 2005 Movie Wrap-Up.Movie of the YearKING KONG. This seemed to divide audiences who were new to the story, but for long-time fans of the previous movies, the new Kong was a beautiful tribute to the 1933 original, and dumped all over the silly 70's version.Escapist movies that were fun and worthyWallace & Gromit; Harry Potter 4; War of the Worlds;with lesser nods to Madagascar;

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1134545290942971532005-12-14T18:25:00.000+11:002006-03-18T14:27:04.470+11:00

I spent an hour at the NSW Art Gallery's Pissarro exhibition today. They had gathered quite a lot of his paintings. Only a few were really excellent, but still I was pleased that they were all his and they hadn't done that cheating thing where they show 5 pictures by the main artist then fill in the walls with other people's stuff. One particular picture of Paris made me wish I was back there.I

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1133586535253599242005-12-03T15:59:00.000+11:002006-03-18T14:26:45.233+11:00

Last weekend I went to a cinema to see a showing of Blonde Venus - the old flick where Marlene Dietrich starts one of her nightclub songs dressed as a gorilla, with Cary Grant in the audience. Marlene the gorilla has a chorus line of black dancers with big afros. She then does a gorilla-suit strip-tease, and dons a blonde afro wig to sing Hot Voodoo, one of her dodgier songs (singing it she

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1132219147090973362005-11-17T20:00:00.000+11:002006-02-08T22:40:18.370+11:00

Bloody hell I hate the meat industry. People feel squeamish and uncomfortable about eating kangaroo meat, so the meat industry's answer is what? To call it something else!This was from a recent story on the ABC: "A competition is under way to rename kangaroo meat to boost sales in restaurants and supermarkets. ... to make it more palatable for Australian and overseas consumers. The kangaroo

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1130250918123207872005-10-26T00:15:00.000+10:002006-03-18T14:26:27.980+11:00

It's funny how great cds can turn up in your life out of nowhere. I'd heard of Bjork's jazz cd Gling-Glo, but hadn't been prepared to pay the price for an imported copy of it. Last weekend I saw it in a second-hand shop and caught it for $14. After just a few songs I berated myself for not having paid the price to get it sooner. Being a fan of jazz and of Bjork (her Vespertine album is one of my

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1127225737057481172005-09-21T00:07:00.000+10:002005-09-21T00:26:05.206+10:00

Saw the charming new Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit film tonight, and was interested to see that 40 or 50 people in the audience sat all the way through the credits till the end, just watching the floating bunnies drift up and around the screen. A gently compelling visual experience, and rather clever.15 years ago the trick was to add a short final scene at the end of the credits (

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1126703271601053962005-09-14T22:59:00.000+10:002005-09-14T23:07:51.603+10:00

As I was rushing back to work after lunch today, with a book in my hand, I passed a raggedy homeless guy who asked me what I was reading. I said it was a 'book about books' and showed him the cover.He read then said out loud the name of the author (Harold Bloom), then said 'ah yes Leopold Bloom', then 'Bloomsbury', then 'oh no not that' and happily waved me on my way.I wouldn't be too surprised

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1126702708337386742005-09-14T22:55:00.000+10:002005-09-21T00:21:46.686+10:00

So Brokeback Mountain has won a Golden Lion from Venice.That's all very nice, but it's a shame it's not getting released in Australia till next January. Do we really need to wait so long? Can't Heath pull some strings to get it shown here sooner?In the meantime, I'll just have to continue admiring the spiffy poster....

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1126280772972236152005-09-10T01:11:00.000+10:002005-09-10T01:54:52.510+10:00

After enjoying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I wanted to make a comment on a lovely fact about the director Tim Burton - he keeps employing his friends.Firstly, he always gets Danny Elfman to write the music (and sometimes sing the songs too - in Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).And he very frequently calls on Johnny Depp to dress up - in Edward Scissorhands,

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1121037621293960622005-07-11T09:11:00.000+10:002005-09-21T00:18:41.746+10:00

Two weeks ago the Sydney Film Festival finished up. I made it to 20 films, although it's more like 19 and a half, since I walked out on one. The roster of new feature films seemed a little lacklustre, but the documentaries were consistently good. And of course they showed some lovely old films. I've divided this review into three handy parts. 1 - New films 2 - Old films 3 - Crap films (yes, the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1120490298680699342005-07-05T00:55:00.000+10:002005-07-05T01:18:18.686+10:00

I think the Archibald prize exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery has closed by now.I spent an hour there one recent afternoon.Saw the winner, which nobody was paying any attention to. The two-headed Janus idea was a good one, but the execution was garbage. Firewood.My personal favourite picture was Adam and Harvie (Krumpet) by David Ralph. I liked it's squareness for some reason, and the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1120401922750307702005-07-04T00:20:00.000+10:002005-07-07T23:52:08.476+10:00

I have a bit of a problem with the 2 hours of footage that Channel 9 gave us from this weekend's Live 8 concerts.Obviously the main problem with this kind of concert is that only some performers could get shown while many others were cut completely. Couldn't we have had at least 3 hours of it? Channel 9 would only have had to cut 1 extra hour out of it's schedule of garbage to do it. Should have

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1118580773674794002005-06-12T22:36:00.000+10:002005-06-12T22:54:58.366+10:00

The 2005 Sydney Film Festival opened on Friday night. As I do every year, I rocked up at the State Theatre to pick up my season daytime pass and get my hands on the brochure showing all the lovely films that are going to be on. Always a special moment.As a general rule, I don't attend the opening night film (the one time I went, the film was so useless I seriously considered walking out).When you

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1118579701080419002005-06-12T22:26:00.000+10:002005-06-12T22:35:01.116+10:00

Here's my plot for a new Bette Davis film (we'll have to resurrect her somehow), inspired by a friend's comment about Ms Schappelle Corby looking like Bette Davis when she was on the witness stand.*** Our setting is somewhere unspecified in south-east asia. That really has no effect on the plot, but allows the film to have a more colourful atmosphere, which Bette Davis used to like. If you were

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1116132637354963292005-05-15T14:41:00.000+10:002005-05-15T14:56:28.433+10:00

After my last list, which was quite negative, I'd like to ask the following artists to come to Sydney for reasonably-priced concerts, in small theatres so I don't have to squint to see you, so I can see you before I die (which hopefully won't be anytime soon, so you've got a bit of time - just don't take too long). Some of you have already been here, but I didn't get to see you, which, I know, is

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1116130931734604212005-05-15T14:08:00.000+10:002005-05-31T23:34:46.280+10:00

Time for a list.Of people I'll never meet in person but who still manage to piss me off.Of course, we can start with Mr Howard and Mr Bush Jr. Who are turkeys.And Tony Abbott. And Alan Jones and John Laws. And Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch (big raspberries to you!).I would mention Fred Nile, but he seems to be a bit quiet these days.Stinky Jennifer Lopez and Lisa Ho (for putting furs into their

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1112833459627510882005-04-07T10:18:00.000+10:002005-04-07T10:24:42.900+10:00

Saw R.E.M. perform at the Entertainment Centre last Thursday night.Well, should I talk about them, or me?Firstly, me.I did the right thing and bought the t-shirt. My seat sucked unfortunately. I was in the fourth last row, which was kind of the last row since the last 3 rows were empty. So Michael looked very small and the sound was muted, like I was listening to loud music being played by the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1110243526122889092005-03-08T11:52:00.000+11:002006-02-08T22:42:58.870+11:00

It's my second day home with a cold, and nobody has come to talk to me :-(It was different yesterday, when two young ladies knocked on the door and said they wanted to chat to me about the Bible. I declinded their offer, but liked the suggestion. It would really pick my day up today if two young ladies or gentlemen came around and offered to talk about Chuck Palahniuk's novels. That would be

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1109761114261190922005-03-02T21:55:00.000+11:002005-03-04T00:17:36.696+11:00

Even though The Oscars passed without too much fuss this year, I still feel the need to produce my annual round-up of the event.* Firstly - the red carpet arrivals.Didn't watch them.I turned on the tv, and there was Richard Wilkins once again, throwing himself in the way of oncoming stars.I had to turn him off.The Horrible Wilkinsssss. I Hatesss Him (he even makes me start talking like Gollum).*

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1109163518008443812005-02-23T23:46:00.000+11:002005-02-24T00:10:32.770+11:00

A story of Doggy Art in Newtown beating Dodgy Art in Kings Cross.I only just found out today that there is more than one new dog sculpture in Newtown.There are 3!!! I'll have to go see them all asap. I 100% approve of them.The main streets of Newtown have been sculpturally deficient until now, but no longer! And most importantly they've managed to come up with an idea that's immediately pleasing

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1108217430196520512005-02-13T01:04:00.000+11:002005-02-15T00:45:27.826+11:00

I actually can't think of any movie-hair that has ever been worse than Colin Farrell's in this movie. Each wig managed to disgust and revolt in new ways. And his Irish accent was a joke. I noticed that even the kid playing young-Alexander spoke like an Irishman. What a laugh.The whole thing was fairly stupid, but then again it was no more stupid than Troy.I guess the thing with Troy was that the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1105261879025883582005-01-09T20:08:00.000+11:002005-01-27T09:34:12.736+11:00

2004 is over. So here I am with my End Of 2004 Movie Wrap-Up. Escapist movies that were kind of dumb, but fun too Troy ; The Day After Tomorrow; Dodgeball; I, Robot; Bad Santa; The Phantom of the Opera Escapist movies that were fun and managed to be a little less dumb Harry Potter 3; The Invincibles Biggest piece of crap The Terminal (there were probably worse films, but this had Tom Hanks and

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1104326841745502242004-12-29T23:56:00.000+11:002005-01-09T20:14:28.606+11:00

Lynn recently mentioned that she is planning on getting opinions on what is in and what is out for the new year. So I've started of thinking of some options. I'll try and edit this over the coming days. IN - * Nuts About Chocolate (yummo); * That new Helga's bread with Sunflower seeds in it (yummo); * Independent American films that take risks and make $$$ (Michael Moore and Mel Gibson both did

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1101025319615903492004-11-21T18:53:00.000+11:002004-11-21T19:21:59.616+11:00

I've been thinking of some of the more unusual highlights of our recent trip through Europe. Here are some of them... * I saw my friends' cat Cleo wandering into the loo one afternoon. I asked whether she liked it in there and was told that she goes to the toilet on the toilet. I had to pop my head in to check it out, and there she was! Cleo, sitting on the toilet, taking a peaceful tinkle! * I

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1097857512870077192004-10-16T02:22:00.000+10:002006-02-08T22:46:30.873+11:00

Had a experience today that was an embarrassment and could have turned traumatic, but happily got sorted out. After a morning in downtown Turin, I was going to meet up with Tino for lunch, and dropped into my hotel to make use of the bathroom, drop off some stuff and freshen up a little. But then I found myself faced with a problem. Firstly I'll explain that I've only bothered to learn a few

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1097767080646416062004-10-15T01:48:00.000+10:002004-10-15T01:38:13.260+10:00

I don't know if anyone will bother to read this, but I have to get it out and belatedly blast John Howard about his attititude to the idea of gay marriage. Two months ago, when he made his proposal to ban it, the Labor party got all indecisive and put a little committee together to think it over. During a speech at a Christian fund-raising dinner, John Howard had a go at the Labor party for this.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1097764058403927592004-10-15T01:25:00.000+10:002004-10-16T02:30:36.983+10:00

According to a story on the abc new website today, Australians (the ones who own proprety) have never been wealthier. The average person has assets of $250,000. Which means that for every dollar under $250,000 that you have, that's an extra dollar someone else must own instead. I wonder who has my $240,000? And to think that we just had an election where the politicians were trying to throw money

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1097767645784313212004-10-15T01:18:00.000+10:002004-10-15T01:42:27.076+10:00

Twice this week I've been to the coolest museum in Turin, the National Museum of Cinema. A truly excellent place for a movie fan. They've got one of Charlie Chaplin's hats, an alien from Alien, Joan Crawford's dress from Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, some of Federico Fellini's doodles, an original Psycho script, and heaps of other stuff. They had so many beautiful old movie posters I was

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1096555742696821242004-10-01T01:49:00.000+10:002004-10-01T01:13:15.553+10:00

Wipe The Smile Off His Face Originally uploaded by MLHS. Taking our 'Vote for decency' to the smallest room in the house.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1096465252215532602004-09-29T23:38:00.000+10:002004-09-29T23:46:32.656+10:00

Yesterday morning I was on the bus to work. On the way I noticed a man standing at the Central Station bus stop, carrying a placard. He looked to be 30 or so, with a backpack on. His sign said this - VOTE FOR DECENCY DON'T VOTE FOR JOHN HOWARD He didn't seem to be affiliated with any particular party. He just wanted people to know which politician he most disapproves of. A lady on my bus gave him

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1087998013401935422004-06-23T23:38:00.000+10:002004-06-23T23:40:13.400+10:00

Saw a wonderfully kooky French-Canadian short film today, called Axis of Evil. It would have been even nicer to see it last year, as it's lost a little topicality by now. Two lovers at Niagra Falls sing a cheesy duet. The whole thing looks like those really bad little video clips they play along with the songs at karaoke bars. The tune is one that was once sung by Pia Zadora and Jermaine

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1087740740253748412004-06-20T23:42:00.000+10:002004-06-21T10:18:33.100+10:00

The most exciting movie I've seen so far, in the first half of the Sydney Film Festival, has been Zabriskie Point. I've always wanted to see it, even though I'd read that it was supposed to be pretentious garbage. It lost a lot of money for MGM, and partially deflated the critical reputation of the director Michelangelo Antonioni. But I loved it, and I'm hugely glad that I saw it properly on the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1087180611486967782004-06-14T12:34:00.000+10:002004-06-21T00:15:36.786+10:00

Gosh, I love Big Brother Until now, this year's Big Brother (number 4) has been relatively uninteresting. The contestants seem nice people, but are mostly a bit dull. I've complained to Cade about it being like going to a very boring suburban babeque. The boys hang around together drinking beer and kicking a ball around, leaving the girls to talk about girl stuff. Depressing. But this week

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1086176180860177252004-06-02T21:19:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:22:56.560+10:00

For the first time in my life I went to a Sydney Writer's Festival event, just over a week ago. Cade and Lynn came along, and we heard David Sedaris read 3 of his short stories. 2 new ones, and 1 oldie. I was very happy for him that he had a full house. I certainly hadn't expected so many people to turn up. And I was proud of little David. He was very funny and kept everyone laughing for 90

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1080741175076072942004-03-31T23:52:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:26:11.153+10:00

Today's True Story. This afternoon I got some photos developed at a little photo shop near my office, run by a couple of Chinese folks. When I came to pick up the photos, the two people behind the counter asked if I was 'Disney'? I looked at them blankly, and they asked again, with grins on their faces. I had no idea what they meant. Were they off their nuts? Did the walkman headphones on my

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1080039986617771262004-03-23T22:06:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:23:28.733+10:00

Here are MATTHEW'S TOP TEN ALBUMS!!!!: The top six or seven have always been in my top ten. The last handful will change from time to time. * The Smiths "SINGLES" How can one band have so many great songs? There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is a contender for my favourite song of all time. So many of these songs can bring instant joy. Panic, and Ask, and Girlfriend in a Coma. They

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1078216841215949242004-03-02T19:40:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:25:23.983+10:00

Another something I must mention about Channel 9's showing of the Oscars last night. Richard Wilkins - Nnnnnnnoooooooooo!!!!!!!! I loudly complained at my tv when he popped his head into my favourite night of nights. The man is an entertainment vacuum. What is with Channel 9 giving that guy an income? Every time he opens his mouth a little part of my brain gives up and dies. If he asked just

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1078216285104715982004-03-02T19:31:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:24:04.293+10:00

It was OSCAR night last night, and LOTR picked up everything. There should be a public holiday in New Zealand today. No New Zealander should have to go to work, or get their fleece shorn today. And Peter Jackson can be made king. I was very pleased with both the supporting acting awards. Tim Robbins was a good choice. Anything that can make Susan Sarandon look so beamingly happy is a good

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1077880717702039522004-02-27T22:18:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:27:15.410+10:00

A few weeks ago, at Cade's suggestion, I tried making a list of 'hot' famous women. It was meant to be a Top 10, but blew out to a Top 12. The list was limited by the fact that I was only including actresses for whom I could find decent photos on the internet somewhere. This whole thing doesn't work so well without the photos, but I thought I'd list the 'winners' here for the record... 12.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1077877054519269742004-02-27T21:17:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:28:28.603+10:00

Here's a wonderful restaurant in Portland that I'm sure we'd all love to visit. Click on it to go to the webpage... Wanker's Corner If you ever go, make sure you say hi to the head Wanker for me! Maybe even bring me back some Wankerwear, if you really want to put yourself in my goodbooks.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1077876403842409122004-02-27T21:06:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:29:19.323+10:00

I couldn't really do a top ten, as too many of my favourite artists got the same number of points. A number of artists have had to be grouped. This does mean some of my favourites aren't listed. My Fred Astaire album is as brilliant as any album I've ever heard, but it's the only Fred album I've got. And I love Cake, but for some reason I've never gotten around to buying more than 2 albums,

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1074602787659537202004-01-20T23:46:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:29:53.940+10:00

Cade and I saw Return of the King tonight. Was very good. Was very long. I didn't find the spider scary. I found her utterly horrifying. I had to concentrate hard not to grip Cade too tightly and cut off his circulation. I told Cade that nobody is allowed to mention spiders in my presence for at least the next week.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1074518328094866492004-01-20T00:18:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:35:09.553+10:00

My goodness gracious! Only a few days ago I wrote something about Cornettos, and now I look at my blog page again, and there are advertisements at the top for stuff for making ice cream! Blooger.com is SO quick at jumping on the hot topic and finding an ad to fit it. How do they do it? Why do they feel the need to make life scarier than it already is? Here are the ads... * Ice-cream Machine

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1074462584146425622004-01-19T08:47:00.000+11:002004-01-19T08:51:07.950+11:00

Matthew - are you aware that your blog is advertising tickets to Elton John's UK summer tour? Maybe it's because you started blogging about ice-cream. Maybe not. I love your ice-cream story.

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1074084973166621962004-01-14T23:56:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:34:02.426+10:00

At my Newtown bus stop this morning, at the stop near the Martin Luther King/Aboriginal flag mural, I saw a bunch of posters stuck on the walls advertising Streets Cornetto Ice Creams. Someone, perhaps a student who's a fan of Adbusters, had stuck a smaller printed poster over one of them, which said "I've seen too much poverty in Sydney to care about what you are advertising". Which is fair

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1073641027624776282004-01-09T20:37:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:30:46.410+10:00

I watched an old Hitchcock film this week called Sabotage. It was one of his very early British ones. It had some good scenes, and one absolutely excellent one. There's a scene that goes for about 10 mintues, and it was done so well. Was wonderfully suspensful. Here it is, for your reading pleasure... The bad guy has to get a bomb into the middle of London on behalf of foreign terrorists.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1072923800570124952004-01-01T13:23:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:31:41.366+10:00

Cade found me the Australian music charts for 2003. The singles chart is a bit sad methinks. Some okay songs surrounded by a fair bit of crap. Topped off by Guy Sebastian singing what must be the sappiest number one single in history. Barf! The album chart is interesting. It's definitely a big mix. * Lots of compilations of course, from Cher to Barbara Streisand, The Bee Gees, Elton John

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1069332396364911642003-11-20T23:46:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:32:30.416+10:00

Cade and I went to the Here and Now concert (80's music heaven) on Monday. The extremely climactic climax of the show was Kim Wilde's bit, where she totally Rocked Off! She is one woman who can sing quite capably about how you just keep her hanging on, while simultaneously looking good in a tight black cat-suit. It was not without reason that Cade had to take a breather, sitting outside for a

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1068643657063881122003-11-13T00:27:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:33:18.960+10:00

PIE I feel the need to mention that I am very much in love with a certain pie available from Shakespeare's Pies. The spinach, cheese and corn pie.. Mmmmmm. So yummy. I think the great taste may be due mostly to the pastry (yummo) and the overuse of cheese (double yummo).

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1068633921466893932003-11-12T21:44:00.000+11:002003-11-12T21:45:18.673+11:00

Cade - I think you have to write about having a doll named after you to get, and hold, people's attention.

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1066902683381043692003-10-23T19:51:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:37:32.430+10:00

Best Of R.E.M. Have just been looking at the track listings for the soon-to-be-released double cd version of the Best Of R.E.M 1988-2003. The first cd is the 'greatest hits' one. I'm so pleased they included Electrolite and The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite. But they've gone and left out others like Shiny Happy People! Not right. The 2nd cd looks very interesting. A couple of live and alternate

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1066734621993103422003-10-21T21:10:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:38:19.100+10:00

Heaven's Gate The $1 weekly video is a fine thing. I am currently putting myself through Heaven's Gate (the original, long long version). An infamous film that wrecked careers, wrecked a studio, and nobody saw. For years I've told myself I should see it. Now it's finally happening. It reminds me of watching Matrix 2. Incredibly impressive in many ways, and horridly put together. It had a

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1063090451582991802003-09-09T16:54:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:39:39.813+10:00

Have done some old movie-watching lately. Came across a few good ones. Have to mention some of my favourite scenes. Written on the Wind / Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall / Douglas Sirk Trashy, and strongly conservative 50's melodrama, with fab colour photography. Trampy rich girl Dorothy Malone breaks her daddy's heart by picking up strange men at gas stations, then does a wild mambo in her room

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1062920142117697922003-09-07T17:33:00.000+10:002003-09-07T17:38:12.913+10:00

It's not working yet Matthew - I think you've just confused it - it's still coming up with discount encyclicals and the Vatican photo album. Although now - I had another look before I published this post - it's coming up with Perfect Kauai honeymoon? and Honeymoon in Hawaii. I can't wait for the stuff about hamsters with itchy scalps. "Does your rodent suffer dandruff?"

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1062745806043084432003-09-05T17:10:00.000+10:002003-09-05T17:20:41.010+10:00

Creepy ad banners Well Lynn, you've opened my eyes to something. Today I looked at the banner ad on my blog and it has two ads, both for american resorts that cater for gay civil unions, weddings and honeymoons! The website must have some program that reads what we write, looking for certain keywords, and then matches appropriate ads to go at the top of the page. Kind of creepy. In a few of our

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1062711504017232152003-09-05T07:29:00.000+10:002003-09-05T07:38:23.960+10:00

hi Matthew, hi Cade, hi Brian ! I like the way blogger matches banner ads to the blog. For example, today when I look at MatthewSmith there's an ad for a Vatican Online Photo Book, paired with an ad for RateMyBody.com Apart from the excitement of that I find it very exciting that Matthew has finally done his own blogging. I'd like to add a little to the ongoing discussion about marriage to

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1062608002746381052003-09-04T02:53:00.000+10:002003-09-04T02:53:22.653+10:00

Hello Matthew, et al. Though the post about gay marriages is old, it seems in the spirit of these things--not that I've ever done this before--to pipe up. As you can imagine, Canada's recent move toward gay marriages provoked something of a stir in the US, but only in the sense that it seems that the federal government--Republicans for sure, and Democrats because they tend to be weak--is doing

Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15805652053332034911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1062603333065392822003-09-04T01:43:00.000+10:002003-09-04T01:43:54.686+10:00

Here are some interesting websites. * http://www.pm.gov.au/ The Aussie Prime Minister's website. There's a spot for you to click on so you can write to him (to tell him to piss off perhaps?). *http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/ The Media Watch website. The 'Dog of the week' page often has some amusing little mistakes by the newspapers. * http://www.crikey.com.au/ Alternative look at Australian

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08212081838319272502noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-1060084107398416492003-08-05T21:47:00.000+10:002003-08-05T21:57:56.946+10:00

There's a lot of stuff going around at the moment about how the Vatican said some very harsh words about gay marriages. The Vatican's opinion isn't surprising. And I don't mind that much that some people think gay marriages are inappropriate. But I am surprised (though I shouldn't be) at the total dumbness of what John Howard has said about it. I'm not surprised that he's opposed to gay

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2004193432003-06-13T07:51:00.000+10:002003-06-13T07:51:45.900+10:00

Lynn says: "I can't just vote on a picture of a guy sitting in a chair!" Matthew says: "Oh yes you can!" The Hot Or Not site is for people to vote on whether they think a bunch of strangers are 'HOT' or 'NOT'. People put up their photos, and then later on they go on and see what rating they got. So when you're voting it's a challenge to A) be true to your opinions and vote appropriately,

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2003993902003-06-08T18:14:00.000+10:002003-06-08T18:24:44.000+10:00

Why do I like Sydney? Sydney has Gowings. The staff at Gowings know how to leave a window shopping man (and window shopping ladies) alone when required. Brisbane does not have Gowings. This is a sad fact. At times like today, when I decide to go have a look at some clothes and try things on, I find myself in change rooms with shop assistants outside demanding that I talk to them. Nasty young

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2003993882003-06-08T18:13:00.000+10:002003-06-08T18:13:57.523+10:00

Am annoyed. The Sydney Film Festival has just lost an appeal to show one of their films. It's been banned. A few decades ago the SFF (under David Stratton) made a fight to be able to show what they wanted to show without the censors interferring. The film festivals won special concessions, which is why nobody under 18 is allowed to attend any of the film festival movies. The people who go

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2003440202003-05-27T22:30:00.000+10:002003-05-27T22:30:20.553+10:00

Okay, I have to have one final full-on spit about Matrix Reloaded. To get it all out. I am going to go a bit overboard with it, so I apologise once again if you ain't interested in my rants. Just delete this if that's case. I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT A LOT OF THE PLOT, SO DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE. BETTER YET, DON'T SEE THE MOVIE AT ALL! *** Firstly, why I need to have

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2003440142003-05-27T22:28:00.000+10:002004-06-02T23:40:56.403+10:00

I had a good old fun time with Eurovision this year. I actually quite liked the song from Belguim. Was not very Eurovisionish. Was hoping it'd get first. Was on the edge of my couch during the voting. Was okay to settle for 2nd. And Turkey's winning song was okay. Sounded like a Holly Valance song. Or rather, there's a Holly Valance song that sounds just like Turkey's song. And I

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2002297672003-05-02T08:13:00.000+10:002004-06-05T03:35:44.593+10:00

I just found something cool. The bottom 100 movies on the IMB (Internet Movie Database) website. These films got the lowest ratings from visitors on that site. There's lots of Police Academy films. And some people pop up more than once: Bo Derek, Ed Wood Jr, John Travolta, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger etc I've been 'lucky' enough to see a dozen or so. Some I've enjoyed, like

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2001386092003-04-13T07:27:00.000+10:002003-04-13T07:27:54.610+10:00

I've got shopper's remorse. My work shoes got busted this week, so last night I had to buy more. I was naughty. The new shoes cost $200! I must have been freaking out or something. They're Doc Martens, and they felt heaps better than anything else, and I'm sure they'll last. But $200! _______________ matthew

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2001292162003-04-11T07:33:00.000+10:002003-04-11T08:04:26.000+10:00

It is good news from Baghdad. It seems to have all gone better than lots of people expected. Saddam was a nasty piece of work. On the minus side: 1) The americans invaded saying that Saddam was a military threat & was trying to put together weapons of mass destruction. But Saddam's army was capable of putting up surprisingly little defence against the americans (so why were they considered

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2001111822003-04-08T07:26:00.000+10:002003-04-08T07:26:59.533+10:00

I saw Madonna's American Life videoclip on tv tonight. Anyone else watch it? I felt a bit sad for her. She went and made this complex anti-war clip and then failed to get it released in time. Now that war's already happened, she can't show it in the USA, probably ever. I thought it was brave of her to have tried to cram a complex message into 5 minutes of film. If anyone else saw it,

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2000627012003-03-29T08:48:00.000+11:002003-03-29T08:48:22.410+11:00

Everytime I see the Daily Telegraph front page headlines these days I get annoyed. If the story is about the Americans, they use words like "Compassion" (on the story where they showed an american soldier giving water to a captured Iraqi soldier. I don't see that being especially compassionate. It would be rather extraordinary if the americans refused to give captured Iraqi soldiers water!).

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045923.post-2000511852003-03-27T09:23:00.000+11:002004-06-02T23:41:57.136+10:00

Who's seen The Hours? I saw it last night, and have been thinking about it all day. I think I was very impressed. Was annoyed by the make-up on Nicole Kidman and Ed Harris (and his cliched role). Also a bit annoyed by the Philip Glass music (every time it comes on the soundtrack you just know that some famous actress is about to start getting emotional again). But I liked all the actors ('

lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510232447879092969noreply@blogger.com