Ponderance

Kill Bill with footnotes!

Grant, the Angriest-ex-and-once-again-video-store-clerk-and-writer-about-video-store-clerks(-quite-possibly-inspired-by-the-film-Clerks-which-is-about-video-store-clerks) points to this absolutely fantastic pseduo-academic resource on Kill Bill: check out the HKFLIX.com: KILL BILL [VOLUME 1] STUDY GUIDE! Woohoo!

Microsoft Tweaks Aussie Anti-Spam Legislation

Australian IT reports that planet Microsoft is wary of Australia's proposed new anti-spam laws:

MICROSOFT has expressed concern about the Australian government's proposed anti-spam laws in its submission to a Senate committee inquiry. In a submission to the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee on the Spam Bill 2003 and the Spam (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2003, Microsoft argued that companies would need more certainty about their obligations under the laws. The proposed legislation considers there is consent to receive commercial email where there is an established business relationship exists. Microsoft questioned the clarity of this, saying legitimate businesses needed more clarity and should not have to assess each case separately. It recommended that consent should be assumed where there was an established business relationship between the sender and the addressee, and where "the addressee has not previously indicated to the sender that he or she does not wish to receive from the sender commercial electronic messages of the kind proposed to be sent".

Microsoft wants us to presume that I give concept because I haven't expressly said I don't. F**K off! Oh, I'm sorry I axe murdered you, but you didn't expressly tell me not to. I guess you might have if I hadn't just cut off your head. Never mind. Let's go play with Windows. Grrr.

Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary Tolkien Event

While I'm usually loathe to repost CFPs (Call for Papers) in full in ye olde blog, I think this one is special. In 2005, for 50th anniversary of LoTR, there's going to be a conference-cum-convention (coinciding with Worldcon) in Birmingham. Better start saving now! Here's the details:

TOLKIEN 2005 : THE RING GOES EVER ON
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS

11-15 AUGUST 2005

ASTON UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, UK


FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS


To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings,
The Tolkien Society announces a major international conference and
convention combining scholarship, celebration and commemoration.

Tolkien 2005: The Ring Goes Ever On will be a worldwide gathering of
Tolkien readers and enthusiasts, students of Tolkien’s writings and
artists responding to those writings, performers, actors and adapters;
collectors and curators; bibliographers and philologists; established
academics, new researchers and creative writers; journalists, publishers,
biographers, commentators and film-makers. Tolkien 2005 will represent
one of the first large-scale international gatherings of Tolkien readers
to meet in the wake of the completion of Peter Jackson’s screen versions
of The Lord of the Rings and will endeavour to reflect this in its range
of activities and interests.

The conference organisers now announce a first call for papers. Lectures,
seminars and panel presentations are invited on all aspects of the
writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. The conference encourages submissions
intended for a variety of audiences: academic and literary critical
contributions are welcome, as are responses aimed more broadly at the wide
diversity of Tolkien readers and filmgoers. Contributions should combine
sound scholarship with accessibility.

Emerging conference themes include:

* Art and Illustration
* Authors responding to Tolkien
* Dramatisation and film adaptation
* Publication histories
* Translation
* Philology and The Languages of Middle-earth
* Ecology and Environment
* Ethics, Power and Conflict
* Tolkien and War
* Popularity and the legacy of Tolkien
* Gender and identity
* Myth, Fantasy and Romance patterns
* Characterisation and narrative
* The Inklings
* Tolkien on the Internet
* Tolkien and recent fantasy literature
* Tolkien in literary theory and cultural studies

Expressions of interest and proposals should be sent (no deadline) to

Dr Bob Davis
University of Glasgow
St Andrew’s Building
11 Eldon Street
GLASGOW
United Kingdom
G3 6NH
2005.programme@tolkiensociety.org

Further information may be found at

http://www.tolkiensociety.org/2005/

Amazonian Intelligence

Amazon just got better in my book. Not only is the worlds best book database (anbd bookstore, of course) getting bigger all the time, but now you can search the text INSIDE BOOKS for a great deal of their stock (and it will only increase). Why can't my university library do this?? Check out the details here.


Mac Attack

The NYTimes has a great article on the 10.3 Apple OS upgrade. Sound neat.

Australian IT reports on the success of the new Windows iTunes (in the US only, I might add).

Australian IT also reports on the new Mac enticements for high schools.

iTunes Rockets into the PC Mainstream

Australian IT reports on the phenomenal success of iTunes for PC:

APPLE is boasting more than one million downloads of its newly released iTunes music software for Windows. In the three and half days since the launch of the software, more than one million songs had been purchased from Apple's iTunes Music Store, the company said. More than 14 million songs had been purchased from the online music store since it was launched in April.

So, iTunes is rapidly filling the PC downloadable music void. Will Napster be as successful, or is iTunes all PC users wanted all along?


Ziggy Plays Piano, but can't figure out The Net

Australian IT reports:

TELSTRA chief executive Ziggy Switkowski has admitted the company has not paid enough attention to its internet network, resulting in email chaos for BigPond users over recent weeks.

And BigPond users respond: no sh*t, Sherlock! I'm still waiting for mail sent three days ago to turn up. Grrr.

Buffy Geek Code

Okay, I thought this was pretty weird when I saw it initially, but lots of people seem to have done theirs, so check out the Buffy Geek Code, and here's mine:

OS---FWi+++VEv+++DCa+++S+++N++CS++US+FF+SP+++W+++VI+VII-3.16

(but no postcode, 'cause that's just silly!:P).

Insane in the Blaine ...

David Blaine is just plain silly. Of course, reportage of his silliness can often employ amusing deadpaness which makes it all okay. The Media Guardian says:

Fans of David Blaine were in position by 3pm yesterday, shivering and counting down the hours until there wouldn't be a man in a plastic box hanging from a crane for no immediately obvious reason.

Hehe.

Media Sillies ...

Mr Incredible, we need your help ... Those of you who saw Finding Nemo may just remember a little teaser for next year's Pixar film The Incredibles. For those not fortunate enough to have seen it already, think Astro City meets Justice League meets Terry Pratchett. The Teaser is here. It's very, very funny (and see if you can pick which Bond film the music is from)!

Tainted all right ... You've seen them on the news, you've seen the video, now see Tony Blair and George Bush's 'Endless Love'.

Get yourself to a cinema and Kill Bill ... Vol. 1

It's been a long wait for a new Tarantino film. The critical acclaim but box office blues of Jackie Brown (1997) seemed to scare the king of cool under a rather large reclusive rock, but after a long hibernation he's back with a vengeance. Or rather, Uma Thurman's back for vengeance, she's got to Kill Bill, and Tarantino's back in the driving seat, with his foot so far down he's leaving skin on the highway!

We open with the terrible near-death of The Bride, Uma Thurman, at the hand of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Lead by the enigmatic (but, in volume 1, never actually seen) Bill (David Carradine), the squad beat The Bride to a pulp and Bill seemingly ends the story, putting a bullet into her head. Of course, days later, the Texan sheriffs investigating discover you can't really kill Uma. Four years in a coma, a new metal plate in her head and a bloodlust like no other, The Bride awakens, and starts the hunt for The Deadly Vipers and, of course, Bill. We learn The Bride was once 'Black Mamba', a member of the Assassins, who tried to leave the fold: the only way you escape is if the Vipers no longer exist, so that's exactly what Uma's going to achieve! First off, Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) meets the end of Uma's knife. Then we get the real show of Vol. 1 as Uma hunts down O-Ren Ishii, aka Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu), who has become the Yakuza boss of Tokyo during Black Mamba's coma, and now has her own iconic entourage and personal army. But as Uma seeks out her Ishii, no one's going to stand in her way …

The story aside, which is probably the best Tarantino's ever penned, Kill Bill is one of the most amazingly shot films in a long time. Each frame oozes artistry. Every set captures everything about the Hong Kong action films/Yakuza gangster flicks/Spaghetti Westerns/anime extravaganzas that Tarantino is both paying homage to, and proving how much more you can do with these genric traditions. Take the story of O-Ren Ishii, for example: we begin with an origin story of the murder of Ishii's parents told in glorious sinewy anime style, complete with torrents of blood from every wound, and the revenge-of-the-11-year-old orphan. Cut from that to the material world as Black Mamba convinces retired Samurai swordmaster Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) to craft her the only weapon that could defeat Bill's (who wield his own Hanzo blade, having been a student of the swordmaster in decades gone by). Then segue to a brilliant buzzing Tokyo restaurant scene (complete with a Japanese girl-band doing Elvis covers) with Ishii and her ilk, and a showdown as Uma kills off all 88 of Ishii's army (whose attack looks remarkably like the Agent Smith clones scene from Matrix: Reloaded, one of a thousand filmic homage moments), takes down Ishii's inner circle and then chases Ishii outside where we cut from the metropolitan restaurant to the most idyllic traditional Japanese garden setting, complete with water-feature and drifting snow, for the Samurai-style showdown between these former assassins! While words could never capture the brilliance of these scenes, suffice it to say, your eyes will be all a-tingle with every shift, scene change and kung fu kick! And don't even think you're going to resist buying the soundtrack with everything from Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang, Bang' to original music from RZA.

The first line of Vol. 1 is David Carradine's "I bet I could fry an egg on your face right now, if I wanted to." By the end of Kill Bill: Volume 1, that's exactly how you'll feel, but with any luck your head won't explode in the chasm of anticipation before Volume 2 graces the million multiplexes in February next year.

(This review is also at Blogcritics, with some interesting associated comments!)

iTunes for Windows!

Just as Napster is gearing up for the its new legal lease of life, Apple has weighed into the battle for your PC's downloading dollar with something Windows users have coveted since its intial Mac release ... iTunes! That's right, the war is on as iTunes 4 now has a compatible Windows version. It looked like legal music downloads have gone from an internet novelty to the next big thing!

Hi-Tech High School ... ah, the life of Pranks

The New York Times has an amusing article today about the joy hi-tech toys can bring to students, and the embarrasing effects of the generation gap when teachers and principals have no idea what's going on:

At Stuyvesant High School, the tales are similar. "Someone brought in a universal remote and walked through the halls turning on all the TV's in classrooms," one Stuyvesant junior said. Another student mentioned that when his hair was still long enough to hang past his ears, he could wear small headphones for his MP3 player and listen nonstop. Still another added that her friend often used a minilaser pointer to put a moving red dot on the teacher's backside whenever he turned away from the class. ... George Morgan, an assistant principal who has been at Wagner for three years, at first said: "Cellphones aren't a distraction here since our kids tend to respect the rules. They're pretty serious about learning." But when asked about MP3 players and phones with text messaging, he seemed less certain. "You know what, I am not up to speed on this stuff. Text messaging and all these other things ? I said that it's not happening, but maybe I just don't know."

How much fun would a Universal Remote have been at High School? :) The best we ever managed was to move the hands of the clock fifteen minutes forward and get dismissed before the teacher realised he'd been duped! Now you could just reprogram the clock via infra-red or, even better, if the school clocks are networked, hack the network and move them all forward and become the school hero. Ah, finally, the computer-geeks will rule the world ... ;)

Robots ... They're All Out to Getcha!

Remember Reading University?s professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick? He had a chip implanet in his arm, cyborged himself up, which could open doors and whatnot. Neat trick, but not necessarily all that groundbreaking. Well, now The Star reports, he's gone a lot further, making claims a la Hans Moravec's: our artificial progency, the robotic descendants of our minds, are the future. And we, the meaty biologicals, aren't looking so flash in the evolutionary chain of being! Read an interesting synopsis here!

The League of Not So Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen begins with such promise but really fails to live up to the potential of its cast, its characters or its graphic novel origins. The ensemble: Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), ex-adventurer, rather oddly both colonising white-man and somehow mystically protected by "Africa's" medicine men; Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), ex-pirate, ostensibly once an enemy of Empire somehow working now for Britain's glory; Mina Harker (Australia's own Peta Wilson), a reluctant vampire who, rather Angel-like (although the graphic novel preceeded the TV series) seeks redemption by using her curse for "good"; an Invisible Man (Tony Curran); a complicated almost-immortal, Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend); a Hulk-in-a-bottle and his keeper Dr Jekyll (Jason Flemyng); and finally … a token American in the odd addition of US secret service agent Tom Sawyer (Shane West). Gathered together by the enigmatic M (Richard Roxburgh) to fight the first super-villain, The Fantom, The League has real potential.

Alan Moore knew these characters inside out and could write a story to play the strengths and depths of every one. James Robinson's screenplay, by contrast, leaves a lot lacking. For a start, the potency of Empire relic Quatermain versus the pirate Nemo should prove fascinating, but are swept under the rug in seconds. Harker, the leader of the graphic novel group, is only allowed to blossom briefly, although Peta Wilson does a great job. And the "climax" of the piece is so badly written that every cliché is used, every convenient anachronism over-utilised and stock standard device deployed. Nothing new, when there could have been so much. That said, there are some corker moments, and the first twenty minutes introducing each character are pretty impressive. Indeed, when the complicated Dorian Gray faces off against the equally long-lived Harker, there are some real sparks (and bites, and claws and tears), but this is the only decent fight in the picture. Even the anachronism of a car in 1899 is treated as so banal you'd think it was commonplace! And the passing of the torch from Empire (Quartermain) to the new blood of the US (Sawyer) is so f**king annoying, over-the-top and melodramatic that it should not only be on the cutting room floor, but also deleted forever! Grrr. Great potential, a few laughs, but ultimately very disappointing. *sigh*

Quality Matters ... But Dollars, Apparently, Matter More!

Digital cinema projection has been possible for years, but, like the infamous TiVo, has yet to make a foothold in the US market (let alone anywhere else). Digital projction is crisper, smoother and would make film distribution and storage substantially easier. So why isn't it on offer at the local multiplex: cost. The New York Times reports:

LA - Moviegoers who recently saw the Johnny Depp film "Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' at the Pacific Sherman Oaks Galleria 16 cinema here may have noticed that something was different. Instead of the traces of dust and scratches, and the slight shaking of the image that is perceptible at many screenings, they were looking at a picture that is pristine, sharp and steady. That is because the film was projected digitally, the images fed not from a five-foot-diameter reel of 35-millimeter film, but from a computer hard drive, and beamed onto the screen using a projector without any moving parts. ... Filmgoers evidently like what they see. "Given a choice between watching a 35-millimeter print or a digital file of the film, customers prefer the digital version," said Jerry Pokorski, executive vice president and head film buyer for Pacific Theaters, which operates the 16-screen movie complex in Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley. The theater's newspaper ads note when a film is showing in the digital format, and "our grosses are as much as 40 percent higher when we screen a film digitally," Mr. Pokorski said. ... The way the theater owners see it, the costs would not offset any benefits. A typical 35-millimeter projector, they say, costs $30,000 and lasts up to 30 years. But a feature-film-grade digital projector is expected to cost as much as $150,000, at least initially. And because it is a new technology, its effective life is unknown. Beyond the price of the projector would be the cost of the satellite dishes or high-speed transmission lines needed to receive the digital file, as well as an investment in the automated theater management systems to connect and control the entire operation.

So, even new multiplexes are unlikely to be tempted for a while; and with over a billion dollars being made from film distribution a year, how many vested interests are there in keeping digital projection out of the cinema?

What'll They Think of Next? ... Laptop Airbags!

Australian IT reports:

CARS can sense danger and puff up their air bags. Laptops, too, are getting a similar defense mechanism. Two new models of ThinkPad notebook computers unveiled by IBM come with a chip that can detect when the laptop is accelerating ? such as when it has been accidentally nudged off a table and is plunging to the floor. If the hard drive happens to be reading or writing data at the time, the chip tells the drive to temporarily stop. Hard drives are at their most vulnerable when reading and writing data, so IBM believes the crash-protection chip will help guard against such losses of important information.

Perhaps I should buy one of these swanky next protected laptops and affix it to my steering wheel since the car certainly doesn't offer hard drive(r) protection!

It's time to get ... Legal

The Napster pre-release party has happened and the details of the supposed future of music downloading has form. As of October 29th, Napster 2.0 will offer the ability to download songs for 99c (US) or $9.95 for unlimited monthly downloads. However, the US-centric presumption prevails and non-US users are barred from the service for now. For that matter, so is anyone using a Mac or non-XP/2000 Windows. Try and log in from a non-XP/2000 computer and you get the following:

We're sorry, Napster is not currently compatible with your operating system. Napster is currently compatible with Windows XP/2000. Windows 95, Windows NT and the Mac OS are not supported at this time. If you are planning on using Napster on this computer, the service will not be compatible and you should discontinue registration. If you will use Napster on a different computer, with a compatible operating system, please continue.

So, for all intents and purposes, Australian users are no better off. Grrr. However ...

Australian IT reports that Warner Music and Telstra BigPond are teaming up to develop an Australian legal downloading hub for music before Christmas. The report:

Telstra says BigPond Music will become Australia's largest music download site. Single tracks and albums will be available for download in early December, and will not count towards broadband download caps. Telstra "had been approached by other labels and expects other labels to make further contact with BigPond to discuss options for potential deals," Telstra BigPond spokeswoman Kerrina Lawrence said. Special deals will be available for BigPond customers, she said. Tracks would be available "extremely economically," with the cost added to users' internet service bill, BigPond managing director Justin Milne said. "BigPond users will be rewarded with significant discounts," Mr Milne said. "At a time when the new digital models continue to emerge we believe this partnership solves many of the digital issues we face," Warner Music Australasia chief executive Shaun James said.

At a price expected to be around $2 a track, this could be Australia's Napster 2.0. Of course, Microsoft's copyright-protected WMA format will be under the hood, but that's what Microsoft developed it for, I guess!

Media Snippets:

John Powers' review of Kill Bill in the Orange County Weekly is well written, thoughtful and builds the anticipation until the film's Australian release on October 16th.

Mick LaSalle & Steven Winn have an excellent article,.'Schwarzenegger's biggest role yet', on the history of Arnie and the future of Terminal Politics (which could very well go all the way to the Whitehouse now that proposals are afoot to remove the native-born clause for the US Presidency!).

The New York Times has a fascinating article on how computer game scores are becoming as symphononic and complex as feature film scores and if we look at Howard Shore's operatic approach of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this can only be a good thing!

In other score-related freebieness, Rob Duncan, who composed the score music for most of Buffy's season seven has released a number of score tracks on his website. While I'm impressed that he's gone to the trouble to distribute them for the fans, I've got to say, this score music isn't a patch on Christophe Beck's amazing work on seasons two, three and bits of four (especially Hush), five (The Gift) and six (where he put Once More With Feeling together with Joss Whedon).

Hulk Smash ... Live Journal

Okay, so The Hulk is potentially the funniest character ever. Now, check out The Hulk's Live Journal:

HULK HAVE IDEA FOR NEW TV PROGRAM THAT WILL BE SHOWN ON THE TELEVISION.
It is called Hulk Eye For The Puny Human Guy and in the show, Hulk will go to a Puny Human's place and show them how to live life like Hulk!
"Oh, Hulk notices that you do not have snack cakes!" Hulk will then provide snack cakes.
"Hulk thinks you do not have enough purple pants. Girls love purple pants, Puny Human!" Hulk will then take Puny Human shopping.
"Hulk thinks you need to do something about decorations in Puny Human Apartment." Hulk then smashes apartment!
What do you think? Hulk should call agent, maybe?

Okay, so tell me that's not funny! :p Go and read the rest!

Otterly Unmissable!

Also, in case you're not yet had the pleasure, Kyle's excellent The Otter Side is coming out daily. And you should read it. Every day. It is funny (much).

Star Wars: Shifting Media, Saving Franchises?

Daniel Etherington in the BBC News Online asks, has the new Star Wars game, Knights finally redeemed LucasFilm and the Star Wars saga after the extreme low of Episode 1 and the mild success (but really, still kinda crappy) of Episode 2? He reports:

Ewok no-no
The history of the Star Wars movies has a broadly accepted thesis. The game gives players a sense of involvment The first trilogy was a marvel, with The Empire Strikes Back being a high point and the Ewoks a low. The Phantom Menace was a disappointment, its soullessness only mildly compensated for by the spectacular battles of Attack Of The Clones. However, the history of the games is not quite so clear cut. For many, 1983's arcade game Star Wars provides the fondest memories and it certainly has significant iconic value. Since then, over 50 other games have appeared on everything from Sega CD, where you could have a go at galactic chess, to Nintendo GC. The GameCube title Rogue Leader, which came out in 2001, is a good-quality shooter, and highlights the diversity of genres that can be covered by using elements from the films. Another example is Episode I Racer, which recreated the Phantom Menace's pod race sequence, but made it much more interesting by actually giving you a role.
Better story?
But for many, especially those of us who first saw Star Wars as wide-eyed kids, the biggest factor in the whole franchise was the sense of involvement in the adventures of Luke, Han and others in the original films. Despite how good a Star Wars racing or shooting game may be, they can feel shallow, lacking that sense of involvement with a wider universe. This may partly explain the success of the Xbox title Knights Of The Old Republic, a game that has achieved kudos among fans, and which arguably provides a deeper story experience than that offered by the recent films. It eschews simple fighting, shooting or racing in favour of a narrative-driven, role-playing game approach, where the sense of being in a deep adventure is overt. Most importantly of all, however, the game has a vibe that arguably feels closer to that of the pre-Phantom Menace films. More games like this and the Star Wars cultural universe may recover some of its credibility.

So, Star Wars: Knights gives us a better plot and more to work with than the prequels so far? Perhaps not a revelation (the prequel plots have sucked) but interesting in the shifting media or, as some might argue, the remidation of cinema into interactive media. And it shouldn't really surprise that one media can embody the best bits of another: I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean was based on a Disney amusement park ride!

Radio Sunnydale: Re-tuned for the UK?

BBC "Cult" News reports that the UK release of Radio Sunnydale (already out in the US) will have both a different cover and almost 10 more songs! The reported tracklist"

1. Buffy Main Title Theme - The Breeders
2. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
3. Everybody got their something - Nikka Costa
4. Score Season 1 - Chris Beck
5. Key - Devics
6. Sound of the Revolution - Lunatic Calm
7. Ballad For Dead Friends - Dashboard Prophets
8. Blue - Angie Hart (interactive)
9. Pavlov's Bell - Aimee Mann
10. That Kind of Love - Alison Krauss
11. Sink or Float - Aberdeen
12. Still Life - Patty Medina
13. Blackcat Bone - Laika
14. Just as Nice - Man of the Year
15. Around my Smile - Hope Sandoval
16. I Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Melaine Doane
17. Sun Keeps Shining On Me - Fonda
18. Runaway - Halo Friendies
19. Summerbreeze - Emiliana Torrini
20. Sugar Water - Cibo Matto
21. The Final Fight (original Score) - Rob D
22. Buffy Theme - Nerf Herder

Although, as the site correctly points out, Christophe Beck didn't exist in the Buffyverse until season two, so this may be more of the old wishful thinking. I guess we'll find out when it's released on October 20th in the UK.

The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Part 1 - The Moab Story

In George Clark's report "The Establishment of Form – A Report on the 57th Edinburgh International Film Festival", we find a tantalising look at Peter Greenaway's new multimedia uber-creation The Tulse Luper Suitcase in its first iteration, the film:

A project that lacks nothing in the way of ambition and visual invention is Peter Greenaway's The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Part 1 - The Moab Story (Peter Greenaway, Spain, Luxembourg, UK, Italy and Hungary, 2003). Greenaway's mammoth project is a self-declared manifesto for the possibilities of digital technology. This is Greenaway, the semiotician, constantly constructing and deconstructing cinematic convention with a barrage of visually and thematically stunning devices. The project's ambition is to test the form of the encyclopaedia, whose endless potential has been curtailed by various idiosyncratic systems. The project is subtitled “A Personnel History of Uranium” and spans 60 years from the discovery of Uranium in Colorado in 1928 to the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989. This is the first chapter in the history of Uranium. The project is designed to span media and for the film to be answerable to other forms, such as the planned 92 DVD's (92 is Uranium's atomic number and an essential structuring device). Each DVD will contain information on one of Tulse Luper's suitcase collections. There will also be books, a television series, a website (www.tulseluper.net) and another three films. The figure of Tulse Luper is an alter ego for Greenaway and has appeared sporadically throughout his work. The film is of staggering formal beauty and the fluidity of this language – incorporating talking head historians, introductions to individual suitcases, multiple actors in the same roles, etc. – gives a glimpse of the incredible potential of digital technology. Its real achievement is to ground its baroque histrionics in the 20th century and to incorporate personal as well as international history. In his recent work Greenaway seemed to be retreating from the world. Here he is stamping his mark on it.

I'm a huge Greenaway fan, and think Prospero's Books and The Pillow Book are two of the most technically inventive and engaging films ever made. I must confess, though, 8 1/2 Women left me a bit dazzed and confused, but Tulse Luper sounds absolutely amazing. I have no idea when Perth audiences will get to see it; I would hope that the Perth International Arts Festival would pick it up for the coming film season, but since the film season has become the cash cow for PIAF, I fear they may see Greenaway as a bit risky (they didn't, after all, pick up 8 1/2 Women). But I'm sure Luna will get it eventually ... and in the words of Big Kev, "I'm Excited!".

Escape From Woomera: The Game!

Is this Culture Jamming, Cultural Appropriation or bad taste? I'm probably going with one and two, but understand a number of people will go with three. What is it: Escape from Woomera, the 3D game.

Angel Season Five, Epsiode One: Conviction

At the end of Season Four, Angel and the crew were "given" control on the LA Branch of Wolfram & Heart, the evil law firm which represents most of the demons, uber-criminals and generally nasty-pasties. The first episode of Season Five is written and directed by Joss Whedon, and takes everyone in a whole new direction. In tone, it reminded me of the opening of Buffy Season Four: lots of promise, some great moments, but still finding its feet. For more (including serious spoilage) highlight the following with your mouse:
We open with Angel rescuing a damsel-in-distress from a vampiric attacker. As he finishes, however, his "wetworks" team, support crew, media liason and several lawyers turn up to "manage" the siutation. Angel pleads, "but I just help the helpless", but his liason reminds him, "you also run an LA law firm" and the new direction for the show begins. There are ups and downs and, as most of you know, the episode ends with the return of Spike: as Angel opens the amulet that Spike wore in Chosen, he rematerialises in Angel's office (and there 'Conviction', the first new episode, ends). Personally, I think it wasn't bad, with some great dialogue, but still actors and Joss seem to be adjusting to the new sets and spaces. Two fab lines stand out, though:
(1) When Angel tries to make a call, he accidentally hits an internal service: "You have reaced ritual sacrifice. For Goats, press one, or say 'Goats' ... To sacrifice a loved one or pet, press the pound sign."
(2) Angel: "And there's something else you should know about me: I have no problem spanking men!" (Just how many slash Vids will that end up in!!).
Okay, spoilers over for today.

Guess Who's Back?

Yahoo! News reports that the devil has a new blue dress:

Napster, the pioneering song-swap service that was shut down for copyright infringement, is coming back next week to face the music as a paid site in a vastly changed online music arena. Digital media company Roxio Inc., which bought Napster for $5 million last year, plans an Oct. 9 test launch for a new, legal version of the service called Napster 2.0, according to Napster spokesman Seth Oster. Oster said the company also will unveil full details and the official launch date for Napster 2.0 at the service's "beta," or test, launch event in New York City, next Thursday, where over 200 members of the press and industry are invited. Napster also will debut with a catalog of more than 500,000 songs, more than any other service to date.

Could this be the long overdue PC equivalnet of iTunes, or is this old ghost far too dead to resurrect? Find out in a week ...

Micro-Reviews

I've seen some amazing films recently, and one or two average ones. However, it occurs to me that I've not written anything here about films for a while and won't get the chance to sit and write proper reviews, so it's micro-review time:

The Rage in Placid Lake: Ben Lee plays Placid Lake, who is what we all think Ben Lee is probably like in real life. Miranda Richardson and Garry McDonald play Placid's self-indulgent pacifist parents with real panache, and Rose Byrne is endearingly cute as Placid's best-friend-cum-love-interest. Placid tries to reinvent himself after high school; has some dramas; works for an insurance firm; gets promoted; has sex in a stationary room; has two 'fast trackers' eye off over him (one of whom is Clare Daines if, unlike me, you pay attention and notice it); and finally Placid finds his inner Lake and all is well. This film is well put together, perhaps not overly ambitious, but is kinda light and great fun!

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: Two words: Johnny Depp. Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow steals the show with so much energy, humour and skill that you don't need a plot of other characters. He is brilliant. However, this film does have a great cast with Keira Knightly as Miss Elizabeth Swan, the not-so-elven Orlando Bloom as well-smitten Will Turner, the enigmatic Geoffrey Rush as the evil Barbossa and Jack Davenport as Norrington. More to the point, the script by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio (or Shrek fame) is outstand and director Gore Verbinski (who recently made the much darker The Ring) prods some fine comic performances. While we're all heard that this film was based on a ride from Disneyland, it must be said that this is probably the best popcorn film so far in the twenty-first century. (That's right, I rather liked it!)

28 Days Later: Director Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting fame) re-envisages the zombie horror film with haunting (if a trifle grainy) images that will haunt your dreams and scare the crap out of the person sitting next to you. Horror fans, this one's for you. Oh, and there's an alternative ending after the credits end. Don't be silly and leave before you see it (I did; because I'm a spoon!).

American Splendour: Want to know about everyday American life? Harvey Pekar wrote ironic comic books about the uber-banality of his life as a filling clerk and hit a raw nerve with underground comic readers. His gritty stories are the backbone for this extremely well made, engrossing and ultimately incredibaly provocative film. Perhaps not 'fun' in the traditional sense, but American Splendour revels in its satire and gives some amazing insight into the mythical idea of middle America!

Finding Nemo: Nemo nemo? Very cute, very Disney and a fun film if not quite up to Shrek standards in that it lacked the adult layer of humour. It is preceded by a short from Pixar made over a decade ago called Knick Knack which really tickled my funny bone and is worth seeing all by itself.

The Net: Almost as Bad as them darn Books!

Australian IT reports "'Net may harm kids': academic":

A UNIVERSITY lecturer studying the effects of the internet on teenagers believes the technology may have damaging psychological consequences. Dr Mubarak Ali Rahamathulla, a lecturer at Flinders University in South Australia, is staging one of the first Australian studies into the psychological impact of the internet on teenagers aged between 15 and 17. He said prolonged internet use may have damaging psychological effects on introverted teenagers who were uncomfortable communicating with people in a one-on-one social situation. Dr Rahamathulla said given their already poor social skills, shy teenagers felt more at home communicating through a technological medium, and thus were in danger of becoming even more introverted or not being able to relate to people in real life situations at all. Dr Rahamathulla also was investigating teenagers' attraction to using webcams as a vehicle to push their sexual boundaries.

So the Internet is to blame, eh? Actually, it might the the reporters who deserve my wrath, but why do people keep assigning agency to the amorphous global digital networks that call under the rubric of "the Net"? Or, indeed, the naughty, naughty Net according to many reports! *sigh* The Net doesn't do anything by itself it a medium or, more accurately, a convergence of media, so why blame it? We've established the books don't make anyone do anything ... ideas might, and the distribution of ideas might and, yes, the medium has an impact of those ideas, but the books is not the devil. Nor it the Net. Nor, I'd like to add, are 15-17 year old shy teenagers, although they tend to get blamed for a lot (and the report has all the trappings of a who-to-blame-after-Colombine reaction to me!). (Yes, this has turned out to be more of a rant than I expected ...).

byebye.