October 31st, 2007
After taking the trip down memory lane I checked out my post from this time last year and it was in regards to the lack of horror films showing on Halloween here on Australian free to air television.
The scariest thing on that night was a Power Rangers show that I mistook when reading the TV guide to be a movie but it turned out to be just an episode.
So today is Halloween and once again I’m taking a look at the TV guide to see what clever programming the good people at Australian television have for us. Before I go on and I believe I made a similar statement back then but I’m not hoping for Australia to adopt the Halloween tradition. It’s an American thing and should probably remain so, from what I can tell it’s hugely commercial and promotes binge candy eating in children. It does however appear to a whole lot of fun and has themes that I’m interested in. Sometimes you just have to let commercialism be.
So flipping through the guide I discover that all the commercial networks have once again decided to forget about clever programming and show, well… nothing.
No Elm Street.
No Halloween (duh)
No Friday the 13th
Lame much?
There is however a shining light amongst the mucky muck. That is SBS which is our cultural diversity programmer who shows programs from overseas and movies with subtitles etc. They are showing tonight Ringu which I must admit I have never seen and more than likely never will, despite my fascination with horror as a younger man I have developed quite the weak constitution for it over the past couple of years.
I have seen most of the western remake “The Ring” and found that one bit of terrifying film. I have since heard that the original Japanese version is better and scarier. Hence my avoidance of it. I will just assume everything I have heard is true and it is as good as people say. I’m more of a universal pictures monster movie kind of guy nowadays (”I never drink… wine”).
So congratulations SBS for actually thinking about your programming and I hope some people will watch it and huddle behind the couch.
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Tags: australia, halloween, horror, horror films, Movies, Power Rangers, Television | 10 Comments
October 30th, 2007
I can’t believe that I let the day pass me by without saying a thing!
No one reminded me.
Actually no one realized.
Quit Your Day Job is over a year old now!
On the 3rd of October last year I wrote my first post, all about how I thought Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer should be cast in the upcoming Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles as Sarah because she bares more than a passing resemblance to Linda Hamilton. She wasn’t, of course and the woman who was cast is quite good so what do I know!
Now I can use the ‘Last Year’ widget in the sidebar! Unfortunately it seems to be playing up and won’t let me change it from the whole month to just the week. I’ll tinker with it but for the time being you can revisit the first month in QYDJ history!
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Tags: anniversary, Quit Your Day Job, QYDJ | 6 Comments
October 30th, 2007
You can’t really see the shading on this, the scanner didn’t pick it up very well (the scanner rarely scans these sketches in well - get a lot of feedback on the white background). Turned out a lot differently than what I started with in my preliminary thumb sketches.
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October 29th, 2007
I haven’t really gotten too interested or excited about the currently casting Justice League film. Probably because I’m surprised that it is actually moving forward and expected it to sit in development hell forever. That many costumes and capes on the big screen in one sitting feels like it may just blow my mind out into a mad fanboy’atonic state.
The first leaked casting was around Wonder Woman and it was rumoured that Jessica Biel was to play the Amazon princess, to be honest I was feeling pretty good about that too. Not strongly enough to be disappointed when the rumour was debunked.
Last week it was leaked that another actress has been cast Adelaide based actress Teresa Palmer, whom I had never heard of before. Immediately of course I turned to Google for images and the first couple I saw made me wonder what they were thinking then I discovered the photo to the right (or is that above?) and I can totally see it.
What a hard character to have to fulfil with Lynda Carter still pretty fresh in our minds. But if you give her the black hair and of course the costume I’m sure she’ll look the part at the very least.
I’m sure she’s relieved to hear me lend my support.
Oh and I read now that the upcoming Flash film will be a direct spin off from the JL film.
Which is cool, I look forward to seeing Wally on the big screen.
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October 28th, 2007
When Motörhead suggested in 1987 that we should eat the rich (Aerosmith also rallied behind this call some years later too - Iron Maiden did not however even though I thought they did) I wonder if they happened to have a dining experience like the one Tracey and I had the other night in our local suburban Thai restaurant.
We booked in and rocked up to the restaurant fairly early in the evening because we were pretty hungry and didn’t want to be out all night. After convincing the extraordinarily rude woman behind the counter that Tracey’s name was Tracey and that we had booked a table (I said the table was booked under Tracey three times and Tracey said it twice) we were faced with several children running around the restaurant screaming whilst their ignorant parents chatted.
Fine, we said to each other, I’m sure the parents of these children will pull them into line as people start to fill the ‘not that cheap’ restaurant.
No.
Really it would have been too much for us to expect that either the parents of the stupid little yuppie larvae would exert some sort of parental control or the alternative that the staff would ask the parents to perhaps get their children to sit down and stop bothering the other patrons.
Tracey and I spoke about a number of things that evening as we tried to eat our full priced meals but neither of us heard a thing that the other said. The noise of these screaming children and then the group of young pretty couples trying to speak over them was so deafening that we longed for the comparatively mellow sound experience of the previous night that saw us standing next to the speakers at the Nick Cave and Grinderman concert.
So yeah there was some anger.
And some awful service.
But mainly anger at the two couples and their kids who have too much bloody money that it doesn’t matter to them about the simple act of dining out. There was a time when Tracey and I would have had to sacrifice an awful lot to have dinner out. Had this been one of those times then these arrogant suburbanites and their awful offspring would have really devastated us.
So if you are a ‘well off enough to waste money on a diesel t-shirt’ couple (a t-shirt and shorts at a restaurant? I mean really people!?) and don’t mind $16 meals for kiddies then think about the young couple in the corner who will eat packet pasta for the next three days so that they can enjoy this small step out of their otherwise struggling life.
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October 27th, 2007
Yup that’s right folks. I love that this blog is often dedicated to all things pop cultural etc and the joy that those things bring but I have to warn you all that over the coming days there is going to be some whining, whinging, complaining and just plain ranting.
Just so you know.
Oh and I’m about to watch the last episode of season one Lexx.
Maybe that’ll put me in a better mood.
I’m doubting it.
There will probably be swearing and Iron Maiden quotes also.
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October 26th, 2007
Askmen.com recently announced their manliest men of 2007 as voted by us the public. In all fairness to the poll it does try and quantify it’s results about why these men are listed and it’s not all about looks and pure manly bravado. The highest ranked man’s man then is David Beckham, soccer sensation and industry unto himself.
I don’t know, I’m really not that comfortable with David Beckham as the pinnacle of my gender. I mean he’s alright and all but I don’t know if I’d say he’s Clooney (the number one male last year, just going to show that Batman and Robin is not actually the most damnable offence after all).
But is it fair to try and place this crown of masculinity onto a mere mortal man? We all have flaws, some more than others and the concept of what makes a man a man is not an exact science although if you are the Dude the answer is simply ‘testicles’.
So instead of questioning the manliness of JT I thought I would offer up my own top five manly men of fiction list to give us all something to endeavour to. Obviously there are men missing from this list and you may not agree so you are welcome to suggest your own or leave a comment voicing your support for the ones I’ve listed.
- Captain James T Kirk
It would be hard to go past the man himself. He’s the ultimate take charge guy, he hates bureaucracy because it gives him a belly full, green chicks are ok, blowing up your own ship is a tactical move and God can go get his own damn starship. Two words: flying kick.
Quote: “KHAAAAAAAANN!!!!”
- Ash Williams from the Evil Dead series
Being played by ‘the chin’ Bruce Campbell certainly doesn’t hurt, and with one liners such as ‘Hail to the king baby’ and ‘Groovy’ there is no way he can’t be on the list. By the way he has a shotgun, a chainsaw, quotes the Day the Earth Stood Still and has a day job where people treat him like crap.
Quote (so many to choose from): “This is my boomstick”
- Harry Callahan of Dirty Harry
I mean a character played by Clint has to be in the top five and really, I don’t think it comes better than Harry. He hates punks and is happy to tell them. I wonder what he’d make of Emos? Oh and big gun, he does have a big gun but not because guns make you manly but when used properly can remove the fingerprints.
Quote: “Well I’m all broken up about that man’s rights.”
- Jack Burton of Big Trouble in Little China
When the universe asks Jack Burton whether or not he’s paid his due, he answers yes sir the cheque is in the mail. With lightning reflexes when it comes to bottles being shot at his head and a mastery of disguise you could do much worse in a role model.
Quote: “Hey, I’m a reasonable guy. But I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things.”
- Jack Bauer of 24
Do I really need to quantify this? I don’t care how clever you are Jack will track you down, he will threaten to slice open your eye and he will get the information he needs. Killing him only makes him angry. Jack gets the job done.
Quote: “You probably don’t think that I can force this towel down your throat. But trust me, I can. All the way. Except I’d hold onto this one little bit at the end. When your stomach starts to digest it, I pull it out. Taking your stomach lining with it. For most people it would take about a week to die. It’s very painful.”
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October 23rd, 2007
I’m always really pleased with myself when I take a gamble on something I only know from my peripheral vision.
In this case it was buying Lexx season one.
I was one of those people who didn’t see Lexx and didn’t really show any interest in it at all. Didn’t bother downloading it or reading about it but I did know it was out there and occasionally I’d read a post about someone declaring their absolute love for it.
This was a little like Firefly.
It registered on the very edge of my awareness but I never got into it until I took a gamble and downloaded the first episode. I think with Firefly I downloaded all the episodes and then bolted for the DVD pack before I even watched all the downloaded episodes (just a further example of digital downloads leading to a purchase of a product). Actually did I say that I downloaded them? No I meant my cousin Larry the digital thief he is, I unwittingly watched them at his house thinking it were free to air tv.
At any rate Tracey and I have worked our way through two and half episodes of the first season, I say episodes but I mean movies. We can’t wait to get to season two and real episodes (hour long?)!
Got to say that the acting is quite bad at times, the special effects are at times quite bad and the writing is strange to say the least.
I’m hooked.
I have no idea for whole sections of the show about what is going on and why and I really don’t care as there is something quite hypnotic about the show.
I wonder if I’ll fair as well with Cleopatra 2525?
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October 20th, 2007
Dan has been watching 80s computer films too much lately and thought that he could trick some of his fellow bloggers by making up a meme about taking a screen shot of your desktop in the hopes that he will be able to glean some way to access our systems and take over the world.
Well you can’t.
Which is why I’m entertaining the meme and revealing what it is I look at everyday when I sit down at my computer:
Yes I know it’s fairly obvious but it’s a nice destop image and has been with me since it first appeared months and months and months ago. I also have it at work as well as the Enterprise Maco wall paper on my second screen.
As you can also see there are a bunch of files on my desktop I’m as messy on my virtual desktop as I am on the real one.
If you wish to post about this yourself I’m not going to be assigning meme duties to anyone but I would love to see anyone else’s desktop so leave a comment and a link!
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October 19th, 2007
It is fairly clear at this point that the Stegosaurus is the front runner in the Dinosaur Death Match. Since this is the outcome that I personally prefer I can only applaud the clear minded and logical thinking that you have all shown so far. If you haven’t yet voted you may wish to consider the Stegosaurus’ potential fighting ability further rather than award your vote to the Tyrannosaurus who is clearly overrated.
I was happy to discover that this battle has been depicted in several movies and the Stegosaurus whilst certainly not as much a media whore like the Tyrannosaurus still has his share of popular media appearances. These two apparently faced off in Battle of the Dinosaurs, Fantasia and in Land of the Lost.
Umm I don’t actually know who won though.
Iron your jeans?
- No, jeans are good to go and no Wolverine wouldn't iron them (73%, 24 Votes)
- Yes , no crease, I mean a crease? Really? (27%, 9 Votes)
- Yes and a crease, it's only proper (0%, 0 Votes)
- Whatever, I only wear slacks and fear Wolverine (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 33
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