May 21, 2006

LiveBlogging the 51st Annual EuroVision Song Contest!!


So, I wanted to watch the Eurovision Song Contest with friends but the people who would appreciate it weren't available. Hannah had to do school work, Agi was on a romantic dinner with her boyfriend (what's up with THAT), Emma had to go back to Melbourne and Georgie had work. So I decided I'd liveblog it instead! That way I feel as if I'm sharing the experience of watching one of the funnest calender events with y'all. This is gonna be a long thread so maybe read some now and some later? I dunno. It probably sorta helps if you've seen (or are watching) Eurovision. So, here we go!

GLENN LIVEBLOGS THE 51st ANNUAL EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
--Live from Germany... well, not live. It's a delayed telecast, but you get what I mean. I'm not in Germany either, but the actual contest was. I HATE YOU--

(Yes that's Celine Dion at 1988's Eurovision Song Contest, performing for Switzerland)
7.30: Straight into an opening performance. It has an underwater theme apparently?

7.32: Oh god, there's people dressed as dolphins. Oh man, this is gonna be a doozy! There's a giant golden orb floating over the stage. It's like the fifth season of "Alias"!
7.33: Is she meant to look like a dolphin?

7.35: The two hosts for the evening decide to fly down from the rooftops for some unknown reason! They are Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas. You may know Maria as a reporter (I use that term loosely) for "Entertainment Tonight" (she's greek so they figured "Why not?" i suppose) and Sakis was a finalist for Eurovision a couple of years ago with his Greek entry "Shake It" which I remember not liking too much, but thinking he was hot. Which he is. Of the four images below, can you guess which is Maria and which is Sakis?


7.36: His extremely white suit is blinding me! She's wearing a canary yellow dress and has big giant frizzy hair. It's... not exactly pleasant.

7:37: What the fuck are the nymphs doing in the background? The costumed nymphs from the weird underwater intro are behind the hosts doing a dumb hypnotic dance.

7.38: YAY! Last year's winner Elena Paparizou is performing "My Number One" (the song she won for last year) which is a delightfully wonderful pop song. It was the one that I wanted to win so I was so happy when it did.

7.39: Cirque de Solei! Or alternatively... not Cirque de Solei (i murdered that spelling i know).
7.39: Her backup dancers are, in the tradition of Eurovision, extremely gay. The song is still awesome!

7.41: Wow, that's some bad lipsyncing y'all


7.42: So this year there are 24 countries in the competition. That's AMAZING (apparently)

7.43: The contest starts NOW! (if you couldn't already tell)
7.43: The weirdly way-too-happy-looking like girls are back! And they've brought poorly constructed tour guides with them. Hawt. (these are tiny 30 second packages that show off random parts of the host country to international viewers. The weird happy ladies appear and then disappear and are followed by the packages and then they go back to the stage)

7.44: Some band called 641 for Switzerland are on stage now. Numero uno. Apparently one of the men in the group is hot stuff (all the horny girls in the audience screamed when he sang). There are six mmembers in this group.
7.44: None of them are dressed co-ordinated. If one thing Eurovision has taught us it's that co-ordinated outfits are a must.

7.45: My god that one guy is really hideous. And WHAT IS WITH THE FEDORA? He's wearing white and he looks horrible, as do the others (white)

7.46: LOL, this song is horrid. We're into the big finale now I think. Dear god.
7.46: That girl is wearing a pretty dress, but her hair (so blonde it's white) is atrocious!

7.47: Yay, it's over. I give it a 4/10. The end saved it a bit.
7.47: AAAH! The placid girl gave me a fright. Apparently Greece is all old lamps and wine? Classy.

7.49: Moldovia are on now. I didn't catch their name.
7.49: YES! Awful dance moves and bad fashion choices galore! That's what's all about. It's a girl and a guy and the girl is wearing a bikini/skirt combo and he a black suit jacket with WHITE pants
7.49: How do you give someone your choca? (...I'd really like to know)

7:50: COSTUME CHANGE! She's even more scantily clad now.
7.50: They had a guest rap! It's like Ludicris, Missy, Usher...
7.50: Another costume change! This time it's a slutty wedding dress. It's white. Lol, you are so not a virgin, honey.

7.51: Umm... that's it? I give it a 4/10. That was so lame.
7.51: Really happy girl #3!
7.51: Israel up next. "Together We Are One" performed by Eddie Botler? (sorry about the spelling, I'm sure it's wrong but I'm spelling phonetically, okay?)

7.52. Umm... WHAT?! Is this gospel?
7.52: He's a bald black dude wearing a white suit with three backup singers standing besides him and another on the piano. They're also all wearing white.

7.53: I think this man is actually American.
7.53: YES!!! FIRST TRANNY BACK UP SINGER OF THE NIGHT!

7.53: Lol, he just did this lame dance move where he swivveled with feet.

7.54: "Look into your soul. Together we are one."
7.54: You know who should've been Israel's entry. Madonna, singing "Isaac". It would've brought the house down. I know it wouldn't been ineligable but 'tev. It'd be better than this stuff.

7.55: OMG I think this guy wants to win American Idol!
7.55: Lol Les Murray said "I don't think they sounded that together, if you ask me"

7.56: Latvia now! The group performing is Cosmos and they're singing acapella (whatever).
7.56: Oh holy sweet mother of the antichrist! AAAAH
7.56: You've GOT to be kidding me.
7.56: Oh dear lord.
7.56: There's six men in this group and they're doing some weird scatting/beatboxing/soul combo. This is... oh man. This is shocking.

7.57: THEY'RE ALL WEARING BEIGE!!!!

7.58: They have a ROBOT ON STAGE.
7.58: Oh man, this is embarassing. This is up there with the UK entrant from a couple of years ago that scored zero.

7.59: Lol, thankfully that's over and done with. TRULY AWFUL.
Norway's up now right after the really happy woman. This time she's introducing Greek sport?
7.59: Christine... Gulbranten?

8.00: Hey look! She's wearing White!

8.01: Does she have Bond (the pop violinists) as support? Or some lame Corrs rejects?
8.01: That wind machine is gonna blow up soon! She'll get blown away.

8.02: It's like listening to Enya, The Corrs and some nameless dance/electro band all at once.

8.03: More happy women introducting Greece

8.03: LAS KETCHUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8.03: Spain is up now and performing for Spain is LAS FREAKIN' KETCHUP! Remember them? At least they're not wearing white (they're all wearing red)

8.04: Who stole office supplies for this performance?
8.04: Someone get a medic! They're two dancers convulcing on the stage for no apparent reason!

8.05: Nice to know they haven't improved much since that hideous song they released a couple of years ago. What was it called again? "The Ketchup Song" or something like that. (it is indeed "The Ketchup Song")


8.06: Capri Pants, Muffin Tops and Leggings: 'Nuff said!
8.06: These rotating office chairs are hilarious. I think it's the same design as the one I am sitting at right now.
8.06: That was actually quite boring. I think the ketchup song was better!

8.07 "I Do" from Malta is next after the really fucking happy chick introducting... an iPod commercial? Odd. More beaches and villages.

8.08: HELLO EYEBROWS!
8.08: Okay, this dude's gay right? Wouldn't surprise me. I reckon at least half of all male Eurovision contestants are gay. And then there was that time when TATU sang for Russia.
8.08: I do I do I do - stop stealing from ABBA! (aka, Eurovision royalty)
8.08: 'Flavour Saver': 'Nuff Said

8.09: Oh, look! I just realised his shirt is a bright shade of (you guessed it) white! Yay!
8.09: What is up with those backup dancers. One of them looks like Paulini... 8.09: okay, not anymore.
8.09: One of those dancers is SO a dyke (sorry if that's offensive, but I'm allowed okay!)

8.10: Is he wearing a cumberbund? Without a jacket? lol. Classy AND hot.
8.10: Oh look, the happy bitch is back introducing us to pools, museums and people who like to walk!

8.11: Texas Lighting from Germany. It's a country song and the singer is actually Australian!!!!!

8.12: OMG this is sorta awesome. She's like a less-buxom version of Dolly Parton.
8.12: Okay, she's pretty buxom herself actually. Way to go!

8.13: Okay, I am loving this song just for the record.
8.13: She's wearing a very light shade of pink btw.
8.13: LOVE
8.13: OMG this is my favourite.

8.14: GERMANY FOR THE WIN PLZ! 9.5/10 <-okay, totally a RIGHT NOW vote, but whatever. That is totally the song to beat for me right now.
8.14: "The Twist" from Denmark. Okay, I totally can't pronounce the singers name. More images from Greece. Yawn.

8.15: oh jesus!
8.15: lol, sorry, i got scared for a second there. The singer and her three backup singers/dancers are all... you know it... wearing white! Actually some is white, some is beige. Whod've thunk it.

8.16: Hmmm... this is sorta catchy. But dude... capri pants. With boots that go to the end of the capris. Lol.

8.17: He didn't know how to move. He didn't know how to groove. He didn't know how to twist... apparently.
8.17: [Insert Random Breakdancer Here]


8.18: Wow, could she be wearing for pointless accessories?
8.18: What is that breakdancer doing there, seriously! He's so pointless. That was alright. I give it a 7.
8.18: Russia now. Apparently their singer is a big sex symbol in Europe. After the obligitory clips of Greece (and happy women)

8.19: HELLO MULLET! White singlet top? Oh sweetie, you can NOT pull that off.
8.19: Lol, I love that the two overweight backup singers are right up the back of the stage hiding in the shadows.

8.20: There's a white piano on the stage... yet nobody is playing it. Phantom piano player?
8.20: Oh god, his mullet actually has a dready that hands down the side of his neck.

8.21: Okay, he's dancing on the piano now and for some reason a white woman (as in dressed head to toe in white material) is emerging from inside! Lol, that's something I've never seen before.
8.21: That mullet is truly disturbing.

8.22: I'm seriously confused about that piano woman thing.
8.22: Macadonia! After images of greek birds and happy women!
8.22: Elena is performing for 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' <-I love that name when they say it in French. It's so long!

8.23: This chick is wearing denim short shorts. At least they're not white! That's a bonus (the backup dancers are wearing white though!)

8.24: This chick has great legs fyi. I think she's a tranny.

8.25: They're descriminating against hair! Why can the male dancer have his hair covered by a beanie yet the two female dancers have to have their horrible afros out for everyone to see. I call foul.
8.25: Breakdancing again! I don't get it. Are we in 1984. Is Rock Steady Crew popular again? (i totally love "Hey You Rock Steady Crew" btw)

8.26: Romania next. Apparently he's gonna be good. "Tornero" can't remember the artist's name.
8.26: Happy women introducing nightclubs.

8.27: He's wearing a suit and he actually has the jacket done up so we can't she his white shirt. However the female dancer THING who's flopping around on stage is wearing white.
8.27: A bunch of other dancers just popped up.

8.28: Sorta catchy y'all. I don't know what he's saying though.
8.28: Whoa. another female backup dancer with an afro. Who authorised all these crimes against hair?

8.29: That thing he just did with his voice was tres odd.
8.29: Lol, the backup dancers are singing along but don't have mics so they're officially stupid.

8:30: Yeah, this is pretty decent as Eurovision goes. If it were released as a single in English it'd be a decent sized hit. But a one hit wonder, obviously.
8.30: We're going to the first commercial break now!

8.32: An ad for the EuroVision album! Woo hoo!

8.36: And we're back. Maria and Sakis are back and he is wearing the whitest freakin' suit I've ever seen (even whiter than before I think)
8.36: Sakis just said that tonight's audience is the best ever in the history of EuroVision? I bet he says that to all the audiences.
8.36: Lol, he pronounces "winner" as "weiner"

8.37: The first happy woman of the second act. This clip show is all about markets and how old Greeks make money (i think).
8.37: Bosnia & Herzegovena up now. They're wearing ALL FUCKING WHITE!!!!. 8.37: Apparently these are the guys the beat. We'll see.
8.37: Do they have a accordian? They do! loves it.

8.39: The flute noise (whatever it is) is really nice.
8.39: It's a bit slow, but maybe it'll pick up.
8.39: That violin bit was great. Really suits it.

8.40: This SO sounds like a song the Academy would nominate for Best Original Song.
8.40: I think I've been blinded by all the people wearing white!

8.41: I love that all the people playing instruments (five of them) put them all down to join the singer at the front of the stage, yet THE MUSIC DIDN'T STOP! Phantom musicians again
8.41: Another clip package. What do paper boats have to do with Greece?
8.41: "We Are the Winners" from Lithuana. Yeah, says a country that's never won!

8.42: Huh? Oh dear lordy this is... whoa.
8.42: "We are the winners. Of Eurovision. Vote for the winners!" I just did a direct quote if you didn't guess.
8.42: This is... I... I...

8.43: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! That bald man was the scariest thing I've ever seen.
8.43: Okay, seriously, this song has barely any words other than "We are the winners of Eurovision. Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote for the winners!"

8.44: They get a big applause PLUS A BIG GIANT BOO! Loves it. They deserve it.

8.45: DAZ SAMPSON! "Teenage Life" I love this song. I downloaded it after Ramification recommended it. It's awesome.
8.45: What DID you learn at school today?
8.45: Whoa, he's way older than I anticipated.

8.46: I would NOT be surprised to see this rank very highly... or barely at all.
8.46: 9/10 plz! This song is so freakin' catchy.

8.47: The dancers aren't symmetrical! ugh.
8.47: I really liked UK's entry last year ("Touch my Fire" by Javine who is awesome) but it didn't rank very well I believe. I still have it on my iPod.

8.48: Yeah, that was awesome. Go the UK! Huge applause.

8.49: The happy woman appears to introduce us to the Greek party life.
8.49: Up now is, here we go, GREECE! Apparently people are saying they could pull off a rare feat of winning twice in a row. Turkey nearly did it recently, but were beaten by the Ukraine at the last minute. Let's see. The crowd goes bazerk.
8.49: Ooh. She looks like a tranny.

8.50: Her sleeves are really puffy. Like, hot-air balloon puffy.
8.50: Okay, this chick doesn't have the power in her voice for this rock ballad. atm it's an admirable effort.
8.50: I think she's wearing a cape.

8.51: The wind machine makes a welcome return at last!
8.51: I think her voice nearly broke
8.51: I should mention that her outfit is particially white! It's white with black lace all over it... I KNOW!

8.52: Crowd goes WILD. Is it for the song or her hideous outfit? Her cape is wraparound except for the front so it's just her leggings all the way up to the crotch.
8.52: Finland now. "Hard Rock Hallelujah". This is the hard metal song apparently.

8.53: They look like the orcs from The Lord of the Rings mixed with the Cyclos from Battlefield Earth (minus the snot)
8.53: Lol, the lead singers microphone is a battle axe turned upside down

8.54: At least they're... original (for Eurovision)
8.54: The lyrics are dog awful.
8.54: Nup, I ain't buying this. TRASH BIN PLZ
8.54: There's a female singer singing in falcetto! Yet she looks like an Orc with bad hair extensions.

8.55: Whoa, where did the lead singer get those WINGS from. Plz fly away. And take your platform boots (!!!) with ya. I'll give 'em points for being camp AND geeky at the same time.

8.56: LOL, that was ridiculous.
8.56: The happy woman is back and gone straight away.
8.56: UKRAINE! They won a couple of years back and it was an awesome song. Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" this year.

8.57: She's wearing WHITE!!!! I'm gonna punch something soon.
8.57: It's catchy, already! She sounds like a buzzed up Shakira actually. Sorta looks like her too.
8.57: Great legs.
8.57: I don't really get the pants that her backup dancers are wearing. Like... huh? THe crotch is right down at their knees.

8.58: They just brought out a giant jump rope! Sweet.
8.58: Now they're doing the Ukranian dance... thing... I don't know what it's called. Madonna's dancers did it in the "Bedtime Stories" videoclip!

8.59: The backup dancers disappeared for a whole minute and then returned after Tina's big note with... wait, for it... TAMBORINES! Tamborines being the big finale of the piece. lol, loves it. 7/10.

9.00: The happy woman introduces a clip show of more Athens nightlife.
Time for France now! This could be good, hopefully. "The Time Has Come" by some singer I can't even imagine spelling but I think it was Virginie something.
9.00: Starts with a cello. And a guitar... yet there's only a cellist on stage. Why put a cellist on stage yet not a guitarist and maracca shaker (which I can now hear). It's not like they're actually playing the instruments anyway.

9.02: BTW she's wearing fucking white and the song is boring as batshit.
9.02: She looks really boring! Boring dress, boring hair, boring accessories, boring bling, boring song too. It doesn't even sound good in french.

9.03: I think even SHE is bored. Does France even give a shit anymore?

9.04: I just realised the stage looks like a giant venus fly trap!
9.04: Happy woman starts a clip of more happy people shopping and taking the train!
Croatia! "Croatia's answer to Elizabeth Hurley" "Much more fun to sing than listen to." according to Les Murray.
9.04: Whoa, I think I can see up that woman's vagina, that dress is so innapropriate.

9.05: HELLO BIG LIPS!
9.05: HELLO FALLOPIAN TUBES! So that is what they look like?
9.05: Is she actually singing stuff or just yelling noices at the crowd. "s-s-s-sex" I think she just said.


9.06: She just crouched down. Her ovaries are cute!
9.06: Wave-your-hands-in-the-air-time!
9.07: Lol, she just took her frock off! Who knew a uterus was allowed to be so openly shown on television?
9.07: I think they're doing an irish jig!

9.08: LOL, what the fuck was that? 5.5/10
9.08: That happy chick is back with the mountains of Greece.
9.08: Ireland now. Apparently it's the best Irish song in a while. Brian Kennedy. "Every Song is a Cry For Love" ... it sounds horrendous.

9.09: Wow, he's so old.
9.09: He gets 234923043a bonus points for not having white on either him, the guitarist or the backup singers. But the female backup singers are wearing this gross brown colour so I take up those bonus points and subtract a further 343849384 for being a horrible song.
9.09: This song is sorta bland. But these sorts usually go over well with voters, so...

9.10: Seriously, NOT EVERY SONG IS A CRY FOR LOVE, OKAY?!
9.10: Wow, the male backup singer looks like Gunther from "Friends" - and just as gay, too!
9.10: This dude's hair reminds me of Tom Hanks' in The Da Vinci Code

9.11: Lol, he went for a falsetto note but moved the mic away. What a twat.
9.11: The happy women introduce us to restuarants and old people.

9.12: Carola, Sweden's performer, won the Eurovision contest in 1991 apparently.
She has a big giant overflowing cape that's threatening to swallow all of Athens whole.

9.13: I'm pretty certain her pants are made of foil.
9.13: Whoa, it just turned into a Tina Cousins-esque dance song.
9.13: Awww, she just dropped the cape... that was NOT cool. Now I sorta have to focus on her horrible pants and her top that has that stuff that tassels are made of on it.

9.14: Backup singers are waving white flags for some reason. And they're all wearing white or really bright beige.

9.15: Okay, I sorta like this song. It's catchy up the wazoo and I feel like getting up and dancing y'all.
9.15: That wind machine is gonna blow a fuse but we can all be thankful of it's timely return! There's never too much use of the wind machine at Eurovision!
9.15: Yeah! That was actually pretty great. Definitely my third fave so far with only two more

9.16: That happy girl's teeth are really white. And she's introducing MATHEMATICS!!!!
9.16: "Superstar" is the song by Turkey who won a few years ago with a song that was awesome (i have it on my iPod)
9.16: Ooh, it sounds disco-ish.
9.16: Ooh, it looks like a tranny.

9.17: Her vagina is so shiny! Oh, wait, it's just her outfit.
9.17: Wow... english is definitely not this chick's first language, huh?!
9.17: Why does she have a starfish attached to her face like the slugs in that episode of "Futurama"?

9.17:The male backup dancers have shiny starfish attached to their groins.

9.18: "Let's feel the rhythm tonight!"
9.18: Oh honey, could you have hired any more homosexual dancers?
9.19: Her hair is pulled back so much it looks painful.
9.19: Those tits are fake.
9.19: That hair is fake.
9.19: That vagina is, i'm guessing, the fakest thing of all. Lynette Scavo could take a few lessons for this chick.

9.19: Aww, the last song of the night!!! The happy lady introduces a package about the Olympic games!
9.19: Armenia now. "Without Your Love" by André.

9.20: Woo! Suspenders are back, y'all. As are... weird snow beanies and felt vests (apparently)

9.21: Ugh, he's got a flavour saver! And gross hair.
9.21: Dude, what's with that vest?

9.22: Lol, he just groped his own arse.
9.23: Those suspenders are HUGE!
9.23: Okay, seriously, every year somebody does one of those dance moves where they get tangled up in some form of material.
9.23: There's ONE backup singer and she's just right at the back not doing anything (unlike that other time she's not overweight. In fact she's skinny and blonde)

9.23: aww, all 24 contestants have been and gone!
9.23: The hosts are back and this time the male is wearing a disgusting gold suit. I think he's secretly Tom Cruise!
9.23: Maria is wearing a skimpy dress but the thing that's causing me distress is her giant frizzy hair!

9.24: Wow, they only get 10 minutes to vote. Europe likes to move fast!
9.24: SPECIAL GUEST?!

9.25: Who is it?
9.25: 300 MILLION albums? Who's the special guest? OMG!
9.25: Is it Nana or Julio?
9.25: NANA MOUSKOURI!

9.26: AMAZING! Maria, stop saying AMAZING!
9.26: Lol, one person at a time, plz.
9.26: Dude, that gold suit is revolting.
9.26: "You're ALL winners!" <-LOLZ!!!

9.27: She just said they're all winners again. WTF.
9.27: Start voting NOW?
9.27: Star voting NOW!
9.27: Wait... NOW! OMG, they're screwing this up so much. Nana!!!

9.28: Recap!

So here's my scoring (out of 10):
Switzerland - 4
Moldovia - 4
Israel - 5
Latvia - 1
Norway - 3
Spain - 4
Malta - 3
Germany - 9.5
Denmark - 7
Russia - 5
Macedonia - 6
Romania - 8
Bosnia & Herzegovenia - 8
Lithuania - 0
UK - 9
Greece - 6.5
Finland - 4
Ukraine - 7
France - 3.5
Croatia - 5.5
Ireland - 5.5
Sweden - 8
Turkey - 5
Armenia - 5

Germany is definitely my fave with their toe-tapping country entry. WAY TO GO! Whod've thought that any country would do that, let alone Germany.

9.34: Last year's winner Elena Paparizu is performing a new song. And... it's actually really good. She's probably win if she entered. It's called "Mambo" and I'm so gonna download it RIGHT NOW.

9.36: She's hot in that outfit she has on right now! All sparkly and hawt.
9.36: OMG omly 30 seconds to vote!

9.37: The hosts are back. He's still wearing that atrocious shiny gold suit. It's a good thing he's so hot. She's changed to a big black ball gown type dress that has a slip up the middle of the front. She's also got a... wait for it... SIDE PONYTAIL! It's all frizzy too. That's pretty much the funniest thing all night. It makes me want to watch the Sarah Jessica Parker/Helen Hunt 1980s classic Girls Just Want to Have Fun!


9.38: Ad break. I'm a bit upset there were no HILARIOUSLY deluded artists like there have been. Remember the duo that scored the UK zero points. They were hilariously bad. Or the Wiggles impersonators. Or how about last year's Granmama Bangs the Drums or whatever that hilarious performance was?

9.40: Still on an ad break. I wanna get into the voting moments. I won't liveblog the actual scores from each country, but I will keep y'all informed about whose in the lead and who is getting zilch.

I'll explain the voting. Viewers from each country in Europe vote for who they thought was the best. And so (i think) 10 countries get points, the country with the highest votes get 12 points I think and the rest get points 1-8, 10 1 being the tenth for the lowest. But of course there's 24 teams so sometimes teams don't get any votes from any country. They cannot vote for their own country. But the thing is countries usually just vote for their neighours. Like, Scandanavian countries give each others the big points. etc. It's hilarious ripped, but 'tev. (that made no sense i know!)

9.44: We're back now and we've got our mid-show program. There's some weird Greek-in-song celebration. They look like Enigma (if you remember that group from the '90s. Ya know "Return to Innocence", "Mea Culpa", and they were big fans of roman numerals!)

9.47: Oh god, they are literally dressed like parrots right now.

9.50: Umm... I don't even know what they're doing now. Honestly. I... can't figure anything out. They're dressed in giant human costumes and are walking around the stage.
9.50: Now time for the Bezuki... apparently? Or Zorba's dance thing...

9.52: We're gonna get into the voting! Yay! The man in charge of it says it all went to plan.

9.52: Maria tells us only 22 countries have won Eurovision.

9.54: Slovenia's vote man just hit on Maria.
9.54: Bosnia-Herzegovenia is in front after one country.

9.55: See, Armenia voted 12 points for SPAIN! Cause they're right next to each other. Blech. Finland in the lead.

9.57: Lol, that's so stupid. They're idiots.
9.57: Denmark announcing their votes now.
9.57: Germany finally got three points. Blah. Europeans are dimwits (not really, they're hot and I love them)

9.58: Finland back in the front.
9.58: Latvia voting now. "The most beautiful Maria in the world" <-lame!
9.58: Ew, they gave 10 points to Lithuania. Blech. Worst. Song. Ever. (not really, but it's very rotten).
9.58: Portugal now.

9.59: SHUT UP LISBON BITCH

10.00: WHOA! Portugal didn't give anything to Spain. That's scandalous.

10.01: Ugh - why are Finland so popular. That was horrible.
10.01: At least Finland are voting now so they can't get any points.

10.02: Ugh - this voting is atrocious. The fact that Lithuania and Finland are so popular is gross and disgusting.

10.03: "You look amazing!"
10.03:At least Bosnia Herzegovenia is doing good.

10.04: 27 countries to go! Crikies.

10.06: I just started downloading "No No Never" by Texas Lightning - Germany's excellent entry. I figure somebody has to give it some loving as it's not getting much from Europe.
10.06: Norway's voting. I wonder if Finland will get 12 points.

10.07: Duh. Finland still (somehow) in the lead.
10.07: Estonia right now. Oh... the vote announcer has really bad orange hair! Ew, they gave Lithuania 8 votes. Gross.

10.08: I'm disappointed that Ireland, an English speaking country didn't give Germany more than 3 points. At least they gave UK 8.
10.08: Finland is on 119
10.08: OH MY GOD! Ireland gave Lithuana ("We are the winners") 12 points. Disgraceful Ireland.

10.09: Remember that episode of "Father Ted" where Father Ted and Father Dougal entered into Eurovision and beat the other two priests because Ireland couldn't afford to send anyone so they deliberately chose a bad entry so they wouldn't get past the finals? Yeah, that was funny. As was "Father Ted" in general. But you know what's not funny. Finland.

10.10: Ew. Malta gave Switzerland 12 points. Gross. They got booed because of it! Rightfully so.

10.11: Finland now on 136 and they're in the lead by something like 30 points. Blech. NO TASTE, BITCHES.
10.11: Where did Cyprus go? They just skipped Cyprus!
10.11: Oh, it is Cyprus. They just put the wrong flag up.

10.12: ...he's...talking...so...slow...

10.13: ...he's...singing...now...really...slowly...
10.13: Wow, they gave Greece 12. That's a shocker (or not)
10.13: Lol, the Netherlands vote reader is... well, unkempt to say the least.

10.14: OH MY GOD! He scared me. He just screamed at the tv and applauded Maria's blause (or Sakis'?)
10.14: Ew, Armenia 10 points?
10.14: gross...

10.15: this is disgusting and pathetic. JUST GET ON WITH THE FUCKING VOTES YOU IDIOTS!
10.15: Turkey 12 points.
10.15: LOL "This time, it's really Bern that's calling!!" lol. They gave Germany 7 points, yay.

10.16: 1. Finland, 2. Russia, 3. Bosnia Herzegovenia.
10.16: Maria is in the Green Room. The Greek entry said she would vote for Finland if she could. YOU'RE HORRIBLE (as is your outfit, bitch)

10.17: Ukraine now. "Kyiv is online!" apparently.
10.17: How have Armenia gotten 40 points so far? Horrible.

10.18: Typical - Ukraine gave Russia 12 points. Will Russia (up now) give them 12?
10.18: The Russian vote reader has a horrible fringe!!OMG!!!

10.19: Finland are now infront by 40 points!!! ugh.
10.19 Russia gave Ukraine 10 and Armenia 12 points. That's... horrifying.

10.20: Poland now. It turns out Poland chose the most dull looking news reader possible to read their votes.
10.20: His voice is funny! It's sort of nasal but with a mix of American and then obviously european. And. He. Spoke. Like. This. Sorta like George W Bush talk ya know?

10.21: The male host just went "we're not finished yet!" after a plug for the DVD. No kidding, hey?!
10.21: UK voting now. They gave Lithuania 10 (gross!!!) and Finland 12 (gross!!!) and now they're up by about 50 points.

10.22: The male host just went "Finland in the lead... for now" <-lol, they can't lose right now you tosspot.
10.22: The Armenian vote reader JUST SCREAMED AT ME FOR NO REASON!!!
10.22: Armenia didn't give Finland any points. Whod've thought a country with such horrible taste as to allow their entrant out of the country, would show class and not give the orcs any points.

10.23: Malta and Israel have absolutely ZERO points. We'll see if they can get some by the end of the show.

10.24: Okay, France just gave Israel 4 points. So much for that. France is coming second last on 2 points just so you know.

10.25: The weird woman who came out of Russia's piano was still in full makeup and costume when they cut to her reaction shot. Odd. Luckily, she got out of the piano unscathed!

10.26: Germany's vote reader is dressed as a country and western man. Shame they're only on 26 points (Finland is 220ish)

10.27: YOWZA! The Spanish (female) vote reader is HOT!!!
10.27: Finland now 230.

10.30: Finland really can't lose right now. They're at 243 and Russia is 196 (in second place)
10.30: ICELAND! That reminds me... I LOVE BJöRK

10.31: Finland gets 12 from Iceland and are in front by 54 points. Blech.
10.31: 7 countries to go. If Finland get no votes at all and Russia gets a whole swag they could win!!!!! Nah, that's like saying Crash could overtake Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture even though Brokeback had won the BAFTA, GG, DGA, PGA, WGA and 33 critics awards while Crash only won the WGA and SAG and few "Best Newcomer" critics awards. Oh... wait.
10.31: France just got 3 points from the UK. Malta still on zero points!!

10.32: Israel voting now. They're making small talk. SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET ON WITH THE VOTES! Just cause nobody liked your entry doesn't mean you should fuck it up for the rest of us. (I Heart Israel 4ril)

10.33: Israel gives Russia 12 points but Finland still up by around 50 points.
10.33: Oh god, could Albania have chosen a creepier looking vote reader?

10.34: MALTA JUST RECEIVED A POINT!!!!! One single solitary point.


10.35: Greece's turn now. I love that they have to cut away to a vote reader even though they're in Greece.
10.35: Greece gives Finland another 12 points. I really don't understand this. It's like Crash winning Best Picture all over again (except if all the characters in Crash sang tacky pop songs and wore lots of glitter... which actually would've made it better)

10.37: The big question is if Finland can reach 300 points with only a couple of countries left to announce their votes.
10.37: SHUT UP AND ANNOUNCE YOUR VOTES, YOU IDIOTS! (Former Yugoslav Republic)

10.38: AND WE HAVE A WINNER! Finland wins with 292 points. The orcs of Middle Earth just won Eurovision. How surreal. Russia's Dima Bilan came second and Bosnia Herzegovenia's Hari Mata Hari came third.

10.40: Aww, they just caught a reaction shot of Germany (with their Australian lead singer). I feel for them. They were too classy for this Eurovision. Instead people wanted to reward some idiots in LOTR costumes.

10.42: They're performing again. God, they're horrible. Does this mean that next year will be a whole lot of shit like this? I hope not! That'd be gross. They look so stupid.

Ugh. Oh well. Sort of a disappointing end to a night that was filled with the right amount of bitchiness, camp and truly hilariously bad music. Who knew suspenders would be back?

That was really long!

Ciao, bitches!

May 20, 2006

All That Jazz (1979, dir. Fosse)


How great is this movie? The acting is astonishingly good, the musical scenes are some of the best ever, the technicals are all ace, the writing is supurb. This movie is literally my idea of perfection. It is powerful, magical, joyous, life-affirming, funny, dramatic and a spectacle of the highest order. On the big screen it is even better (who'dve guessed that?) Just... man, perfect. A+

And just a quick link. That article is a bit odd. How come they discuss how race is such an issue with the casting and that so many of the cast are african-american yet not one single mention that one of the lead's, the one with arguably the most dramatic arc, and the one who is winning all the awards is... ASIAN.

May 19, 2006

That's Hot



Australian tv commercial paying out Paris Hilton. The one that airs on television here is different. After the Nicky Hilton impersonator says "you drink it!" and the Paris one goes "Shut up!" and doesn't drink it because if she does she'll get fat (or, that's what I assume it's meant to mean).

It's still funny though.

However, I don't intent on buying me any Ocean Spray.

World Trade Center



I should warn you that it is quite distressing watching it. That moment with Michael Pena looking out at New York, however, was the moment that struck me and it's just at the very start. It's hard to get a guage on how audiences will react to this movie because it would appear that it's going to be much more emotional than United 93. The presence of Nicolas Cage is a bit offputting (which makes me think the use of non-actors in 93 was an even better decision) As if it's putting Nicolas' face onto 9/11, i dunno. The women (Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal) look like they're gonna be great. Umm... yeah, I still don't know how I'm gonna feel about it until I see it.

I'm not sure if making this a double feature with Snakes on a Plane is such a good idea though.

This Week in Australian Cinemas + Oz Box Office Report

Time to see whether Australian distributers are playing the game at hand or merely playing catch up. SHOCK! This week is pretty good in terms of release dates. But the movies themselves don't really get my blood pumping except for one that I really want to see and another than should be a mere passing enjoyment (perhaps).


The Da Vinci Code, dir. Howard
Duh, we all know what this one is so no need to discuss it. True, I don't want to read the book because it will "ruin the movie". I'm a movie person y'all. I'd rather see a movie. I know that's "uncultured" or whatever but it's true. Althought I love me some Audrey Tautou, I remember when Julie Delpy wanted the role "The character is French, in her thirties and has a shade of red in her hair. I can become a redhead." - why wasn't she cast? Oh well. I'm sure I'll see this.

Ballet Russes, dir. Geller & Goldine
One of my friends, Joy, would absolutely LOVE this movie. It's a documentary about the famous Ballet Russes from France early in the 1940s. It's meant to be quite good if you're interested in the topic (which I can't exactly say I am), but for anyone who use they should definitely check it out.

Slither, dir. Gunn
Director James Gunn wrote the screenplay for the recent Dawn of the Dead remake, which was EXCELLENT, y'all (let's forget about him writing the two Scooby Doo movies okay!) and I have heard this is very much in the same vein as Tremors from 1990 which was super fun. But this is SUCH a DVD movie. I'll definitely hire it out on DVD but planting $10 down for this at the cinema would be a hard decision even though I'm sure I would like it.

Candy, dir. Armfield
Opening this weekend in preview screenings is Neil Armfield's first production in quite a while. It stars Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish as young lovers and cocaine adictees. Geoffrey Rush, Noni Hazlehurst, Tony Martin and Tom Budge co-star. I've heard mixed word on this film, but I'm still extremely excited to see it. The performances are apparently brilliant, so that's an encouraging sign.

It's just nice to see Australian product come out so regularly lately. Hopefully this movie can continue to strength they've had at the box-office.

Speaking of box-office, last week at the Australian cinemas it was as dire as it was in the states.

1. Mission Impossible 3 (2)
2. The Benchwarmers (1)
3. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (6)
4. Eight Below (4)
5. Final Destination 3 (3)
6. The World's Fastest Indian (6)
7. Two For the Money (1)
8. Kokoda (4)
9. Failure to Launch (5)
10. American Dreamz (3)


Mission Impossible 3 holds a better-than-the-US 40% but opened to a much smaller % gross than it did in the states. It's running total is $7.3mil (equating to $73mil if you want an American comparison) and will probably be lucky to reach double that. The Benchwarmers doesn't duplicate it's American success over here with $765,000 ($7.65mil). You can blame that on the fact that baseball (or American Football) movies don't translate here because neither are large sports here. The only other new release in the Top 10 was Two For the Money which died due to zero promotion with $263,000 ($2.63mil).

Kokoda just misses $2.5mil ($25mil) by a fraction this week, but should reach the $3mil milestone soon enough. Speaking volumes is the fact that American Dreamz is (somehow) still making money in the form of $190,000 ($1.9mil) - enough for #10. She's the Man at #12 passes the $6mil mark making it one of the biggest hits of the year (It's only behind Ice Age 2, MI3 and Inside Man at the moment.

Outside of the Top 10 Hidden continues to perform astonishingly with $153,000 ($1.53mil) on 13 screens (Am. Dreamz is still on 123). Where the Truth Lies also had a debut with $79,000 on 12. Deepa Mehta's Water approaches $1mil in it's fifth week sitting at $847,000. Excellent stuff for a foreign-language film. The second best average after Hidden belonged to Drawing Restraint 9's $8,579 on one single screen.

Remember, in Australia films on average tend to gross one tenth of what they do in America. If in US dollars a film makes $10mil then when it's released in Australia it should make roughly $1mil in Australian dollars. Or if it makes $200mil in the US, it should make $20mil here. That takes into account population, inflation, currency conversion and all that jazz. So when She's the Man makes $6mil it equates to $60mil (it barely made $30mil in the US) which is pretty huge difference. Does that make sense? Yeah it does!

Jamie Bell is my Boyfriend + Reviews

How much do I love Jamie Bell? So much so that I pretend he is my boyfriend and we're planning our Spring wedding. *sigh* We were meant to be together, okay!

Dear Wendy (2005, dir. Vinterberg)

This movie may be of interest to some of y'all because of the screenwriter - the one and only Lars von Trier. And you can definitely tell that it's his doing. I could find many similarities between this and Dogville - perhaps why this movie made an absolute pittance at the box-office. The movie stars Jamie Bell as the leader of a rag-tag group of small-town USA misfits pacifists who start a gun club (on the basis that they don't use their guns outside of their secret "temple"). Eventually shit happens (as it so often does) and then everything turns into a Western-genre stand off.

I really liked this movie. I thought technically it was ace, so too was the acting by the predominately younger cast (also including recent Tony-nominee Alison Pill, Michael Angarano, Danso Gordon and Mark Webber) although I don't really understand what Bill Pullman is doing there. The screenplay is a very interesting. Knowing it's by von Trier makes me want to look deeper into it but both von Trier and director Thomas Vinterberg have claimed there is no hidden meanings. If they're lying it's very easy to see what messages they have (and they're not to different to von Trier's other films) - America is violent and it'll bite them in the arse. Still, this is a very intriguing look into American violence - a lot like A History of Violence in ways. B+

Shampoo (1975, dir. Ashby)


A nice if frivilous comedy made in '75 but set in '69. It's incredibly dated, but there is still plenty of shine to this movie, specifically in the performances (Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn are definitely best in show. How Lee Grant won the Oscar is a head-scratcher) and the screenplay by star Warren Beatty and the legendary Robert Towne, which is filled with a swag of great lines. "What I really want is to suck his cock." LOL! B-

Kokoda (2006, dir. Grierson)

This Australian film clearly has the best of intentions and I'm willing to forgive many of it's mishandled moments (such as bringing out the old chestnut of giving an injured man a gun and letting him fend off the villains) because the story it's telling a deeply important one and there are aspects that I feel it works around really well. The movie starts with an all-too brief introduction (if you didn't actually know what the Kokoda Trail was you probably wouldn't understand what the hell was happening) and then gets right into it with a scene that underpins the whole movie. Lots of mud and guts.

The film, however, gives us barely anything in terms of character development, which would have allowed the film to move to a higher level. The acting is all perfectly fine but nobody really stands out except for two men on the fringes in much tinier roles than the leads. Shane Bourne is wonderful as an Army doctor and Angus Sampson is also surprisingly great as one of the chocolate soldiers in the heat of battle (surprising because i normally dislike the man). Technically the film is supurb. Cinematography is wet and cramped and saturated in greens - it looks fabulous. The musical score is appropriately grand and heavy. Editing is a problem though, particularly in the finale scenes as there is some awkward back-and-forth cutting between the final battle and a speech given by William McInnes - it takes away a considerable amount of power from the scene and makes it look as if the battle was won in five minutes. Of course the battle for Kokoda was much larger than the single event that the film portrays.

Overall though I think the film lacked a grandness that films such as Saving Private Ryan or Platoon had - they felt as big as the war they were covering. This film felt as if it had been shrunk down (it's only 90minutes long) in reference to the size of the playing field. But I am giving the film the benefit of the doubt. Some extra work on the screenplay however could've made it an Australian classic - who knows. B-

Dog Day Afternoon (1975, dir. Lumet)


In a weird coincidence, I got sent two movies from 1975 at the same time and watched them right after one another. I'm leaving the best til last though. How fantastic is this movie? There's a reason why it's considered the grand daddy of bank heist films (Inside Man clearly took some tips from it). We all know the story and all that jazz so I'm just gonna keep this brief.

How freakin' excellent is Al Pacino here? WOW. Absolutely amazing. I also thought Chris Sarandon as Pacino's male lover was excellent - I was pleasantly surprised to read he got an Academy Award nomination for this part. It's intriguing to watch this movie and wonder how the homosexual tangents would have been greeted back in 1975. Today it seemed natural and didn't come off as insulting (although some annoying ALL GAYS ARE GOOD PEOPLE!!! idiots would see it as some Hollywood screaming that homosexuals are evil or some claptrap). The screenplay was also fantastic (glad to hear it won the Oscar). I don't really have much to say. A

May 17, 2006

This Week on Australian TV

I only managed to watch one of the movies from last week. That was Platoon and my thoughts (however brief) can be found here (down the bottom). Faithful was unwatched by me because I was at court and missed it. The Year of Living Dangerously was unwatched because I screwed up the recording. However, it wasn't in widescreen so it's no big loss. This week has some great titles I'm looking forward to (maybe) watching.

Thursday:
Nothing today. Some Bill Pullman movie from 1996 I've never heard of before called Mistrial, It co-stars Blair Underwood, is a made-for-tv movie. Need I say more? A few others are on but nothing of note.


Friday:
Kate & Leopold (2001) gets a Friday-night screening. Between movies like Paperback Hero, Swordfish, the two X-Men movies and Van Helsing there weren't many opportunities to see Hugh Jackman all scrubbed up looking look (not that the rough and ragged Hugh we all know and love is disappointing). This is also the last movie of Meg Ryan's before she went eroticly kooky and then gave up entirely. The movie looked bland if sunny when I saw the trailer a billion times at the cinema, and I remember the stories about it involving an incestuous relationship between the pair. I might give it a go purely for the Golden Globe nominated Jackman.

Friday also has a bunch of movies I've never heard of before and, er, Porky's II.

Saturday:
The big one tonight (1.30am) is The Big Sleep from 1946. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I love the tag-line for this movie - "The Violence-Screen's All-Time Rocker-Shocker!" hah! This has been on my DVD Queue for ages but it's never been sent so I suppose I'll try and catch it.

The other movies screening today I have all seen (with one exception). Last Saturday channel 9 aired Elia Kazan's classic East of Eden and this week they air my favourite movie of all-time Rebel Without a Cause. Nice one. Also on is Francois Ozon's Swimming Pool which I was a mild fan of. Then there is A Civil Action which I didn't particularly find that great. How did Robert Duvall get an Academy Award nomination for this? Don't answer... I can already guess. David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner airs tonight and that was pretty good. The only other movie that's on is Wild Wild West starring the ungodly combination of Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh and Salma Heyak. Oh, and BAI LING! I don't understand movies that cast Bai Ling. It's odd. The fact that it's IMDb rating is 4.0 speaks volumes. Wild Wild West is also the "winner" of 5 Razzie Awards including Worst Picture. Way to go! I love that it that Kevin Kline was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor and Actress for when he (I'm assuming) dresses up as a prostitute. Nice.

Sunday:
Jennifer Aniston went Oscar-hunting in 2002's The Good Girl. I always saw this on the shelf at Blockbuster but never picked it up for some reason. I don't know why. I actually like Jennifer and i adore me some Jake Gyllenhaal. I'll have to tape this because Sunday is Eurovision night and that's where it's at y'all.

Right after The Good Girl is a movie I didn't even know existed! Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) starring Jane Russell and directed by Richard Sale. The name and star make it sound as if it's some sort of sequel to classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes from two years prior. But... i don't think it is. In fact, I don't think it has any connection to that one other than the two things I mentioned. How odd, but I suppose they did that back then, right? Aaanyway. Maybe I'll just let the tape record this as well. The IMDb User Comment at the top of the page reads "The Worst Musical of All Time, but the Most Entertaining" lol, GREAT!

The Card (1952) starring Alec Guinness gets a 4.30am timeslot, but could be worth setting the VCR for. It's got a 7.4 average on IMDb and from all accounts is pretty good. Plus, it's only 85minutes long! I always jump at the chance to catch up on good movies from the 1950s.

Sunday also bestows us with the classics Small Soldiers starring Kirsten Dunst and the voices of Tommy Lee Jones and, er, Jay Mohr. Those dolls were CREEPY AS FUCK! The Academy Award Winning (lol) A Guy Thing premiers before The Good Girl. You know the nth romcom starring either Julia Stiles or Selma Blair between 1998 and 2004. There was once a time where I had hope for Julia Stiles, about the time of 10 Things I Hate About You. It only resurfaces when I see her in the Bourne franchise and I get the inkling that her agent is working FOR her and getting her away from these projects. I wonder how her next one will go.

The only other title of note is the Snakes on a Plane-ishly title My Date With the President's Daughter. I'm sure, unlike Snakes, this one doesn't include venomous creatures, airplanes or Samuel L Jackson sprouting "I've had enough of these motherfucking snakes" or whatever it is. Sad.

Monday:
There is literally nothing on today that I have even heard of let alone would want to watch.

Tuesday:
Ditto

Wednesday:
SBS's Wednesday Night Movie makes a return with L'Homme du Train (2002) from director Patrice Leconte (whose The Girl on the Bridge I absolutely adore) and starring Jean Rochefort. It won a whole swag of awards (mostly Best Foreign Language type awards) and got some quite rapturous reviews upon release so I might check it out.

Fact: 2 of the movies I mentioned in this entry had the alternate title of The Promoter. They would be Against the Ropes and The Card. Strange.

May 16, 2006



God, I hope this doesn't die. They've done the audatious deal of debuting The Devil Wears Prada the very same weekend as Superman Returns. It could work in their favour if Supes doesn't catch on like some people think it won't. Or... it could open to a mesely $5mil or whatever and quickly vanish. I want it to at least do something decent. For Meryl and Ann! Meryl is gonna get her 23489383b Golden Globe nomination - you can pencil that in right now. I wonder if she can get her 205475th Oscar nomination while she's at it. Thoughts?

Cate & Sofia!!


It's the birthday for both Cate Blanchett and Sofia Coppola today! They are two of my favourite women working in film at the moment. The stunner from Melbourne, Blanchett has a quite a few upcoming titles to get excited about - namely Babel, The Good German (even though I just said I wasn't feeling it for oscar, i know!) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Sofia on the other hand has thankfully given up acting for the most part, but since 2000 has written and directed one movie I really really liked and another one that I virtually salivate over. Needless to say, I'm sorta looking forward to her next movie that goes by the name of Marie-Antoinette.

In the meantime, let us stare lovingly at these two woman holding their (deserved) Academy Awards. They're special.

I don't really have a point today

That's been happening a lot lately, hasn't it?

Go Fug Yourself is hilarious btw.

If any of y'all want some great mellowish music to get ur dirty paws on try Lisa Miller. In particular "Eleven" and "I Love You A Thousand Dollars" which are my two faves from her <-- album which is pretty great in general.

I hate school.

I'M STILL MAD, BITCH!

Dave Poland's first Oscar columb sounds about right. I don't see Flags of Our Father getting as far as people think (it IS possible to have Eastwood/Haggis overload. Plus it has Paul Walker!) I also ain't feeling The Good German or All the King's Men for Oscar. I don't really know why. Blah, I so don't wanna get into that in MAY.

I'm spent.

May 15, 2006

This is just for me:







RANDOM THOUGHTS


I find it highly amusing that I have run out of things to waste time doing so I decided to make images of people telling me not to procastinate. I am TIME RESOURCEFUL!

I recieved my The Short Films of David Lynch DVD in the mail. It's so purty. But I'm sooo not in a Lynchian mood right now. I just can't concentrate doing my stupid PR crap assigning that I don't give a flying fuck about.


(Click to view larger)

My court trip today was a total bust. Neither Kirby or I had to get up into the witness box and give evidence. Hell, we didn't even go into the courtroom. We just sat in the foyer for an hour until that dumb nut decided to plead guilty. What a 'ron.

Lol, Christina Milian's new album is called "So Amazin'" ho' fuckin' stupi' i' tha'. It wouldn't be so bad if the track on the album that the title comes from was actually called "So Amazin'" but it's actually called "So Amazing". IDIOTS. Having said that, there's a few good songs on there. "Say I" and "Twisted" are the best and the rest are probably Beyonce cast-offs. Christina Milian's imitated J.Lo and Beyonce and neither of those worked so now she's riffing on... Ashanti and Rihanna? WAY TO GO! (I didn't buy her CD, I got given it to review for my new job).

Lindsay Lohan's Just My Luck died at the box-office. Good. That means she'll REALLY stay in her newly discovered "good movie" territory. I can't wait for them to start coming out starting with Prairie Home Companion sometime... eventually... although knowing Australia they'll probably leave it until next March or something like that. Cause NOBODY likes to see Meryl Streep movies ever ya know?!


I watched Platoon last night. Was pretty good. I'd definitely rank it below most of the other films similar to it. The big final action setpiece was really well done though. How come it wasn't nominated for Best Cinematography - that seemed like a given. I just don't like Charlie Sheen as an actor so he was a wash for me, but of the rest my definite two faves were Willem Dafoe and (no, not Tom Berenger, lol) John C McGinley from "Scrubs" which was surprising. One thing I didn't particularly like about Platoon was the characters. I know that was Oliver Stone's point but it wasn't exactly fun watching that scene in the Cambodian village where they just senselessly murder all those people and so on. I was shocked to discover though that this film's budget was $6mil and was an independent film! Why isn't this ever mentioned...? B



I'm tired.

May 14, 2006

Australia's Highest Grossing Films of All Time

Found this great resource site. FINALLY I've found a site that has a tonne of information about Australian box-office. How's this for a bloody interesting fact. When adjusted for inflation, the #1 movie of all time is Gone With the Wind with an absolutely massive $831mil. Comparatively, second is The Sound of Music with an adjusted gross of $165mil. $831mil would be if (adjusted for inflation) Gone had grossed $8.3billion in America. Crazy.

I have a few minutes to spare until Platoon comes on so I thought I'd just post for your non-amusement, the list of highest grossing aussie films.

1. Crocodile Dundee (1986)
2. Babe (1995)
3. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
4. Crocodile Dundee II (1988)
5. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
6. The Dish (2001)
7. The Man From Snowy River (1982)
8. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
9. Muriel's Wedding (1994)
10. Young Einstein (1988)
11. Lantana (2001)
12. Gallipoli (1981)
13. The Wog Boy (2000)
14. The Piano (1993)
15. Mad Max II (1981)
16. Green Card (1991)
17. The Castle (1997)
18. Shine (1996)
19. Phar Lap (1983)
20. Crackerjack (2000)
21. The Man Who Sued God (2001)
22. Ned Kelly (2003)
23. Looking For Alibrandi (2000)
24. Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
25. Crocodile Dundee in LA (2001)
26. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
27. The Man From Snowy River II (1988)
28. Lightning Jack (1994)
29. Chopper (2000)
30. Wolf Creek (2005)
31. Two Hands (1999)
32. Reckless Kelly (1993)
33. Mad Max (1979)
34. The Quiet American (2003)
35. The Craic (1999)
36. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
37. Dirty Deeds (2002)
38. The Phantom (1996)
39. Strange Bedfellows (2004)
40. Breaker Morant (1980)
41. Alvin Purple (1973)
42. The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
43. Japanese Story (2003)
44. Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1987)
45. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
46. Charlotte Gray (2002
47. The Power of One (1992)
48. Puberty Blues (1981)
49. Crocodile Hunter: Collison Course (2002)
50. Little Fish (2005)

Interesting! Here's some thoughts:

Surely Australia is the only country to have a film about DRAG QUEENS & TRANSEXUALS in it's top 10, right?

Young Einstein? REALLY?! And Reckless Kelly! It's hard to believe Yahoo Serious was once considering box-office gold.

Seeing some of those titles on there makes me so happy. I did a write up for The Dish just before for my assignment and I really need to rewatch that movie. That was faaantastic. There's some other really great films if you go to the actual list.

How awesome that Moulin Rouge! is there? On our all-time list it's at #28 between, er, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Lion King.

The Quiet American? umm... no The Phantom? ditto. Was their criteria only films made in Australia? Or by Australians or what? Odd that those two should appear. Where's The Matrix if Queen of the Damned and Ghost Ship are on there? One I don't get is Three to Tango (1999). How is that even remotely Australian?

Kokoda currently sits at #93 but with any luck should be able to reach at least #60.

The entire 439 title-long list. #439 is some random title I've never heard of called Powderburn. It made a hilarious $1,500. Colour me impressed.

Man, I've typed so much today. My fingers are gonna get RSI.

Academy Award Winning Porn


Glitter For Brains compares Brokeback Mountain and Bareback Mountain.
Hilarity ensues.


BASICALLY, IS THERE A MOUNTAIN IN IT?
Brokeback: Yes.

Bareback: No.


Nice one.

Say What? The Winner is Me

I won! Nat's latest "Say What?" exercise was won by moi. Have a look.

Yay Me!

I did a bunch of homework for the last two and half hours and I just did a cumulative word count between the various pieces. I currently have 2201 words, and I need at least 3000 for the thing that's due in on Wednesday. So that's awesome. Today I wrote up my, er, write-ups about The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), Dark City (1998), The Cars that Ate Paris (1974) and finished the Kokoda (2006) one that I started last night while I was waiting to be picked up. I think gonna do write ups for Babe (1995) and The Dish (2001) definitely and I haven't figured out the others yet.

Yay. I rock. So, because I'm feeling happy, here's a picture of something that should make YOU happy.


(wait, that's mostly for my enjoyment. So... nevermind. Let's ogle together)
(click to view larger)

One Awesome Mother

The things this woman did!


(Happy Mothers Day if that's your thing)

I have to do homework today, bah. Tomorrow I have to go to court and give evidence at a trial!!! Yeah, a theft trial but a trial nonetheless. And I'm getting picked up by the cop in charge and he'll be in his cop car and stuff and it'll be hot (like him). When I was in New York and chatting to Nathaniel I made my theories about hot policemen known and luckily for me, the one in charge of this case is a major hottie. Yay for me! Everyone else at work thinks so too! I clearly am the best (...?)

Tomorrow I also need to go to the Forte Magazine offices and pick up my first batch of CDs to review. I now get paid $10 per 500 words to write tiny CD/Single reviews. I just continue to rock.

May 13, 2006

What Ever Happened To...



Can somebody please write a script that she can just spread her love all over, PLZ?!

Remind me:

Cause my memory was a mere 5 months old at the time. But how did Whoopi Goldberg lose the Best Actress Oscar for The Color Purple? I mean, how did SHE not become the first African-American actress to win Best Actress a whole generation before she who's name must not be spoken. And I would ask how Denzel Washington lost the Oscar but that was the year that Pacino won. I've never seen Scent of a Woman but I don't particularly care to. The bits of it I have seen look atrocious.

Also, do you KNOW how hard it is to type "Color" without the U. That's a whole lifetime of conditioning gone right there. I hate that. Happened to Pearl Harbor too and all those sorta titles. Bah to American spelling.

May 11, 2006

ACMI


The ACMI (Australian Centre of the Moving Image) is a cinema in Melbourne's CBD that is so awesome, yet I've never been. They always have extremely interesting movies, as in older ones, specials, retrospectives. For this week only they're screening the Matthew Barney documentary No Restraint alongside Drawing Restraint 9 and the Cremaster cycle. They've have a bunch of retrospectives on directors like Kubrick or Kar-Wai. I always mean to go to these things but it costs money y'all. And add to that all the best ones are on during the weekend or at night. I work over weekends usually and if a sessions doesn't finish until 10.30 at night or later (Mon-Fri) then I have no way of getting home because the last trains are around 11pm and it's a bitch to get back to the station in time. AANYWAY, though I really want to go next Saturday. They are putting on a Dion Beebe retrospective with films that he has lensed included Chicago, Collateral, Praise, Holy Smoke! and Memoirs of a Geisha. However, alongside each of those films they are screening a special movie that Beebe decided as sort of a "this is what inspired me" sort of thing. So next Saturday at 2pm they screening (before Chicago) one of my ALL-TIME favourites (Top 20 definitely) in the form of All That Jazz. I would love to see this on the big screen so if I'm working next Saturday I'll try and swap it. I'd love to see it. I'll cry if I don't. I plan on seeing at least something during the Almodovar retrospective they're sure to put on later in the year.

Actors That Look Like Zombies

This Week in Australian Cinemas

Time for me to tell you what we're getting in our cinematic junk boxes this week. We have some true unmitigated trash this week, but mostly it's a collection of smaller arthouse releases including yet another self-funded and self-distributed Australian film - a trend that is becoming more and more common these thats (two in three weeks just recently).


The Benchwarmers, dir. Dugan
Director Dennis Dugan's name may not be at the forefront of your memory bank but for me he is one of my arch enemies. You see, apart from directing Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Beverley Hills Ninja and Evil Woman he directed what I consider to be one THE worst movie ever made. Any number of Ed Wood productions cannot amount to half of the anger I felt while watching National Security. That despicable piece of garbage is just revolting. I hated every single second of it. It's racist, sexist, frustrating, stupifying and most of all supremely unfunny (Martin Lawrence calling Steve Zahn a "nazi" because he saw Martin sticking his hand inside a car window, ugh). So, naturally, Benchwarmers isn't right at the top of my must see list. It also doesn't help that it stars Rob Schneider (only below Martin Lawrence in terms of woefullness), David Space and Napoleon Dyn- I mean Jon Heder. It irks me that they're not even disguising the fact that Heder is doing Napoleon again. They shoulda just given him curly hair and called it a sequel.

Two for the Money, dir. DJ Caruso
*sigh*. Earlier this year I discussed how Jodie Foster rips through her delicious part in Inside Man. Well, apparently Al Pacino does the exact same thing here... except the movie is about one twelfth as good. Why do you do this to me Al? Add to that Matthew Macononononoaughanoanaughey doing his smarmy thing again but this time with disgusting slicked back hair (!!!) and Rene Russo continuing her descent into "Where are they now?" territory. Armand Assante, Jeremy Piven and Jamie King also appear. I want to die.

Love in the First Degree, dir. Egan
An Australia self-funded production that, much like Lost & Found a couple of weeks ago, is going the self-distribution way due to lack of interest. This film (I don't know why it's called Straight to You on the IMDb link) is an Australian Romantic Comedy. If you take out titles such as Muriel's Wedding which technically it's a rom-com, Australia doesn't really make any of this genre. Here we have a low-budget one that I can't say enthuses me. It's been getting slightly positive marks and leading lady Joy Smithers is apparently very good (possible AFI Best Actress nomination?). This film is slowly making it's way around the country from today - good on director Michael Egan and writer Bernie DeLeo for getting it out there.

Where the Truth Lies, dir. Egoyan
The controversial Atom Egoyan movie finally makes it's way to our shores. I'll end up catching this on DVD I think. The cast is intriguing (I loved Alison Lohman's few performances from 2002), as is the plot and it's R18+ rating purely on the basis of sex scenes is funny. But, much like The White Countess from a couple of weeks back it has ingredients that look great but not enough spark to interest me enough to part with my money.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold, dir. Demme
Jonathan Demme continues his odd career path by making this Neil Young concert film. I can't say I know any of Young's music so the film doesn't interest me in the slightest. However, apparently, fans of Young are not going to be disappointed.

Slow week. Last week the box-office went something like this (weeks of release in brackets).

1. Mission Impossible 3 (1)
2. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (5)
3. Eight Below (3)
4. Final Destination 3 (2)
5. The World's Fastest Indian (5)
6. Scary Movie 4 (4)
7. Kokoda (3)
8. American Dreamz (2)
9. The Ringer (2)
10. Failure to Launch (4)


Mission Impossible does even worse here comparatively than in the states. Ouch. The rest is all pretty standard however, three movies moved UP the charts despite having takings go lower. The World's Fastest Indian, Kokoda and The Ringer. Fastest Indian is a true success story here like it was in New Zealand - it's passed the $5mil mark this week (and jumped from #11 last week to #5 this week), which is a great effort especially considering it looks horrible. Kokoda passed the $2mil mark which sadly makes it one of the most successful Aussie films in a while (true). And Ice Age 2 continues to be much more successful here than in the states ($23mil atm). Hidden recorded the countries best Per Screen Average while Block Party and New World fizzle, debuting at #16 and #20 respectively. Bah to lame audiences!

That's all for now folks.

May 10, 2006

This Week on TV

So last week I managed to watch 3 of the 5 films I mentioned (I think it was 5, anyway). Splendor in the Grass, Flashdance and Footloose. Splendor was divine! It helps that it had Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty for cryin' out loud. A. Flashdance was delightful toe-tapping fun with killer music. You could definitely tell that Jennifer Beals was a Joe Eszterhas heroine. Alex Owens reminded me a lot of another dancing vixen from this delightful slosh. B. The last one, Footloose was so hilarious that I have decided to hire our the DVD some time soon and do a live-blogging. That movie was made for it, seriously. Woolen sweaters were really popular in the '80s, huh? B-

This week there are a couple of interesting titles.

Saturday:
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) is on late at night on Saturday. I've never seen this film by Peter Weir so I'll definitely try to at least tape it. It stars Mel Gibson (back when he a sexy fox) and Sigourney Weaver (who is always a delight to watch) as well as Linda Hunt in what I believe is the only performance of a person of one gender to win the Oscar for playing a character of the opposite gender (er, that made sense right). So ya know... it was popular before Lynette Scavo made it hip!

Saturday also brings us a rare television airing of Elia Kazan's 1955 classic East of Eden. I own the DVD so I won't watch it on tv, but it's still a good thing for them to show! And then there is Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster together in Maverick (1994) from Richard Donner. Cast also includes the original James Garner, Alfred Molina, James Coburn, Graham Greene and Dan Hedaya.

Sunday:
Platoon (1986) gets a bizarre Sunday-night screening. That won't stop me from checking in though. I've never seen this so I might as well. I always find myself saying that I don't particularly like war films yet I do... well, Full Metal Jacket and Saving Private Ryan are good and there's a couple of others I've seen. You can throw City of God and The Battle of Algiers in there too if u think they count. Anyway.

Monday:
Faithful (1996) is Paul Mazursky's classic... er, what? I'd never heard of this movie before today but it stars CHER! She's totally one of my favourite actresses so I'll watch it. Even though I'm sure it's absolutely terrible. Also stars Chazz Paliminteri and Ryan O'Neal. Oh lordy.


Tuesday:
San Quentin (1937) - The only reason I'm interested in this is because it's directed by Lloyd Bacon (42nd Street) and it stars Humphrey Bogart. It's not a musical, but a prison drama...? I dunno. Could be really awful. It only goes for 70 minutes so if it's bad it's only short torture (compared to stuff like DW Griffith!). On right before that movie however is William A Seiter's Life of the Party. I've already seen this one - I only watched it because I knew it had Ann Miller doing some toe-tapping. She's barely in it though, and the movie itself is fairly weak. It's on at Midnight though so if you're having trouble sleeping it's a fine mild diversion.

Wednesday:
Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) - Interesting that this was made during the war. I dunno... it sounded interesting and is supposed to be alright. Might check it out.

Not that interesting of a week, really. Blah. BigPond is sending me The Color Purple. And I also have Malcolm X sitting there. I had no idea X was three hours long. Holy Moses!

Intolerance?

Firstly, I know there's a bunch of Toni Collette fans out there, and while I wasn't in her camp, there's sure to be a few Keisha Castle-Hughes fans out there. If you're a fan of both then you should be happy about this They're teaming up for a new movie called Hey Hey, It's Esther Blueburger. It's especially good news for all you Keisha fans because other than a tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in Star Wars: Episode III you haven't had anything to see the youngest ever Best Actress Academy Award nominee.

aaanyway.



I finally managed to watch the rest of DW Griffith's 1916 epic movie Intolerance. Pleasantly, the last hour of this movie wasn't as soul-destroyingly dull as the first two. Infact, I need to confess to blatantly cheating while watching the middle hour of this film. I had watched the first hour and nearly died of boredom, so when I finally managed to put the disc back in and watch the rest I started to feel like I wasn't gonna make it so I actually pressed the fast forward button. SORRY to any fans of this movie. But, it made it much more bearable. I played it so I could see the title cards but, really, it made it much better. it was faster paced (instead of the snail pace that it actually goes at).

However, when I sat day the next night to watch the final hour I found it was much better. I didn't need to fast forward because stuff was actually happening! (shock, i know!). This part of the film has legitimate tension, interest and had be watching and not glancing at the timer every five minutes (that felt like 15 throughout the rest of the movie).



Technically I could appreciate the entire film. It is very well designed. The acting is all null and void except for one and that would be Mae Marsh from the modern story. I would actually go ahead and say she was brilliant. I loved her once her story really kicked in (instead of following around those old bitties).

However, there is one problem that this film has that I could not ignore. It is the reason I felt as if I was slowly dying. It is also a big problem I have with silent films in general. Remember that hilarious scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray's character is filming the commercial and the director talks for a while in Japanese and then the lady translates as about three words? Yeah. That's what I thought of while watching Intolerance. Characters will literally stand around (or sit, lol) talking to each other for minutes and then a title card will come up saying "They were angry!" like... WTF? I HATE YOU. It made me so angry. I'd sit there watching these characters talk IN A SILENT MOVIE and then it all gets summed up in a title card on no more than ten words. I hate that. Why am I sitting there watching all that talking when I don't need to? The film is three hours long and it could've easily been 2 and not as soul-destroyingly boring.

I also think the constant criss-crossing ruined parts of it. The modern story would've been excellent if it were one single story but then they throw in a Babylon story (which was awful lot like Kingdom of Heaven scarily enough. And then a story about Jesus (???) and then another story about the St Bartholemew's massacre in France. It was all just so much. The Babylon story was interesting I suppose. The other two not so much. And Griffith obviously new it as they barely get any attention until they need to resolve them.

I also don't understand how these stories about "intolerance"? Like... huh? That doesn't make sense. Ugh. I'm gonna give this movie a C- because I can appreciate the craft and I wasn't as overtly insulted as I was whilest watching Griffith's previous Birth of a Nation. I also thought the last hour was legitimately interesting, however I just simply could not forgive the first two hours' tedious boring blahness that made me feel as if I wanted to poke my eyes out and die. C-

The Umas - Statistics

The awards are complete. You can scroll down the page and view them or you can just click here!

The nominations tally went like this:

9
Brokeback Mountain

8
-

7
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Pride & Prejudice


6
2046
The New World


5
-

4
Crash
Little Fish
Look Both Ways
Mysterious Skin


3
The Constant Gardener
A History of Violence
King Kong
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
The Upside of Anger
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit


2
Batman Begins
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Happy Endings
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Look At Me
Match Point
Mrs Henderson Presents
Sin City
Walk the Line
War of the Worlds
Wolf Creek


1
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Charlie and the Chocolate Factor
The Chronicles of Narnia
Hidden
Howl’s Moving Castle
Last Days
Memoirs of a Geisha
Mrs Henderson Presents
Munich
Oyster Farmer
Peaches
Red Lights
Syriana
Transamerica
Yesterday


A breakdown of the winners of the main awards is such:

Brokeback Mountain
5 Gold
2 Silver
4 Bronze

Pride & Prejudice
3 Gold
1 Silver
1 Bronze

The New World
2 Gold
1 Silver
2 Bronze

Mysterious Skin
1 Gold
3 Silver

2046
1 Gold
2 Silver
2 Bronze

Look Both Ways
1 Gold
1 Silver
1 Bronze

King Kong
1 Gold
1 Silver

Good Night, and Good Luck.
1 Gold
1 Silver

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
1 Gold
1 Silver

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
1 Gold
1 Silver

War of the Worlds
1 Gold
1 Silver

Last Days
1 Gold

Look At Me
1 Gold

Match Point
1 Gold

Transamerica
1 Gold

The Upside of Anger
1 Gold

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
1 Silver
1 Bronze

Little Fish
1 Silver
1 Bronze

Batman Begins
1 Silver

Happy Endings
1 Silver

Mrs Henderson Presents
1 Silver

Munich
1 Silver

Oyster Farmer
1 Silver

The Constant Gardener
2 Bronze

A History of Violence
2 Bronze

Sin City
2 Bronze

Hidden
1 Bronze

Howl's Moving Castle
1 Bronze

Mr & Mrs Smith
1 Bronze

Wolf Creek
1 Bronze


Movies that went home empty from the major awards despite nominations - The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Capote, Crash, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Chronicles of Narnia, Syriana, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Yesterday, Peaches and Red Lights

And let us all feel sorry for Miranda July and Me & You & Everyone We Know which, despite being my #9 of the year, the film didn't manage to receive one single nomination. :( However, it did get a whole swag of nominations in the bonus categories, which I am NOT going to tabulate cause omg that would take FOREVER. So... yeah. Phew. Glad that's all over.

Does Harvey Weinstein think we're morons?!

Music is my Boyfriend made a hilarious observation the other day.


First. There is THIS The Canadian DVD cover for "Transamerica" that portrays star Felicity Huffman (a usually attractive woman) as a man becoming a woman.

And then... there is THIS

OH. MY. GOD. Apparently for Americans "Transamerica" stars Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo from Wysteria Lane!

If y'all can't be buggared to click the links then here is an image sample. How fuckin' nuts is that? Are they KIDDING with that shit? Dear god.



That's ridiculous. Absolutely astonishingly ridiculous. On the American cover, she's even wearing an outfit from a Desperate Housewives photoshoot I think!

May 9, 2006

About Bloody Time!

They're finally out! The two men who've been trapped in a tiny cage underground for 14 days (that's over 300 hours y'all) finally got out today. And strangely, both of them seemed to be able to walk easily and needed almost no medical attention. One of the men even signed himself out of hospital after only a couple of hours. They both decided to attend the funeral of the one man who died, though.

I loved this part of the article at the very end:

"Australia has a strong mine safety record compared with many other countries. After the deaths of 16 West Virginia coal miners earlier this year, U.S. labor leaders and experts held up Australia as a possible role model."

lol, "possible" righteo you guys. Keep it up! From this article:

"Mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Worldwide 10,000 miners die every year. In Australia, 11 miners have been killed in accidents in the past year. "

Nice one. BRING ON THE MINI-SERIES! Hopefully not in real-time.

May 8, 2006

Ray Lawrence to the rescue!

Jindabyne. Saw the trailer for Ray Lawrence's (2001's excellent Lantana) Jindabyne at Hidden and this one looks very promising. Ray Lawrence is a great director, and his Lantana was a huge box-office hit. This one has a great cast too: Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Chris Haywood, Deborra Lee-Furness (the luckiest woman alive btw) and Charlies 'Bud' Tingwell.

It got accepted to the Cannes Director's Fortnight, so yay for Ray! If Jindabyne is anywhere near are good as Lantana I'll be super-happy. Now, I'm gonna go watch a movie.

The Uruguayan Prince and the Director's Branch of Diversity!

Javier! He was already my favourite South American (lol, I confess - I don't actually know that many) but that link is super-awesome. Javier discusses the Academy's Director's Branch weird yet wonderful trend of nominating directors without a correlative Best Picture nomination. God, they really made some great choices, didn't they! David Lynch! Alfred Hitchcock! Gillo Pontecorvo! Pedro Almodovar! Fernando Meirelles! Akira Kurosawa!

I'm not big of a Fellini man myself, but I can see his nominations as special.

Anyway, loves it Javier!

Donnie! Darko!

I own the original Donnie Darko on DVD. Then they released the DVD for the Director's Cut and I got annoyed. I haven't watch it because I don't want to on principal. However, now they're releasing this so I think I will have to get that.

Have y'all heard "Donnie Darko" by Pnau? It's so strange, sorta like the movie it's about. It has no affiliation with anyone involved with the movie and it was released last year (or early this year. I can't remember). I got it as a free download on iTunes and it's basically just a song about Donnie Darko. Pnau are this bizarre aussie dance group. Nice.