Girl, Interrupted
Bummer. Today I learnt that an article I submitted for a local literary studies journal won't make it into this year's edition, because one of my anonymous readers took too long to review the piece and get it back to me for further editing. Ah, well. I guess my conquest of the world of publication will have to go on hold 'til next year.
Something to take my mind off things: does anyone out there by any chance know the name of the actor who appears in the Hahn Premium TV ad that's been playing on high rotation at the moment? After spotting a lady relaxing in a spa, sipping on champagne, this cute guy -- a sort of a younger version of Ian Lawless -- interrupts her solitude by divebombing into the space and stretching out to soak up his Hahn Lite beer. It almost made me want to drink alcohol. Or buy a spa. Or take swimming lessons. I'm not sure which. Anyway, the guy's mesmerising.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Chris Meloni and papa, can you hear me?
Chris Meloni and papa, can you hear me?
Addendum to my last post: if the doppelgangers of Rodrigo Santoro, Christian Monzon OR Chris Meloni (from Oz and Law&Order:SVU) happen to be reading this blog, I wouldn't mind meeting them.
In the city yesterday, I ducked into a Pitt St store and decided to try on a hat. Now you have to understand, I'm generally not a fan of hats. Keith has a fondness for trucker hats, but I've always felt uncomfortable wearing them. In my opinion, hats are too difficult to match with the rest of one's clothing. So you see, my decision to try on a hat was the result of much internal debate and consideration.
As soon as I put the thing on, I knew it wasn't for me. I won't describe it, but suffice to say it made me look like the lovechild of Barbra Streisand in Yentl. Which would probably make Mandy Patinkin my father.
What was I thinking?
Addendum to my last post: if the doppelgangers of Rodrigo Santoro, Christian Monzon OR Chris Meloni (from Oz and Law&Order:SVU) happen to be reading this blog, I wouldn't mind meeting them.
In the city yesterday, I ducked into a Pitt St store and decided to try on a hat. Now you have to understand, I'm generally not a fan of hats. Keith has a fondness for trucker hats, but I've always felt uncomfortable wearing them. In my opinion, hats are too difficult to match with the rest of one's clothing. So you see, my decision to try on a hat was the result of much internal debate and consideration.
As soon as I put the thing on, I knew it wasn't for me. I won't describe it, but suffice to say it made me look like the lovechild of Barbra Streisand in Yentl. Which would probably make Mandy Patinkin my father.
What was I thinking?
Monday, July 14, 2003
Doppelganger
Doppelganger
Yesterday, I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. My Sunday afternoon reverie was interrupted by a car noisily speeding past, its sound system blaring. I looked up and was surprised to find that the driver looked strikingly similar to a friend of mine. But whereas my friend is generally quiet, conservative and bookish, this guy looked unkempt, rebellious and angry. He could've been my friend's grungy alter ego.
From the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe to Single White Female, doppelgangers permeate pop culture. I love the idea of a doppelganger. It disorients your sense of self. It makes you wonder, what if I'm not completely unique in the world? There's an episode of Star Trek in which Captain Kirk is split into two selves, one good but effete, the other evil yet strong-minded. No one notices that the 'good' Kirk has a doppelganger, until, in the story's climax, the two figures can be seen fighting each other. And in an episode of Buffy that pays homage to Star Trek, Xander is split into two, one weak-minded and anxious, the other forthright and ambitious.
Predictably, the moral of these stories is that both parts of the self -- the good and the bad, the weak and the strong -- are vital and interdependent. All well and good, but then what are we to make of the doppelgangers who appear consciously to impersonate originals? Are they necessary? A few years ago, I went to Disneyworld and encountered a truly terrifying thing: a Jerry Lewis lookalike. And soundalike, too. The Hollywood film buffoon's eternal man-child features and obnoxious car-alarm voice were almost perfectly emulated by an attendant working at the Peter Pan ride. Actually, it was hard to tell whether the attendant was consciously trying to act like Jerry Lewis, or whether Nature, alas, had simply molded him that way. Doppelgangers may be necessary components of the self in imaginative fiction, but do we really need more than Jerry Lewis in real life?
I haven't encountered my doppelganger yet, though a friend of mine has suggested that the psychologist played by B.D. Wong in Law&Order:SVU could be my slightly-older double. (Or maybe I'm his?) Still, if I do have a double out there somewhere, I'd love to meet him one day. And hey, if there are any doppelgangers of Rodrigo Santoro or Christian Monzon out there, I wouldn't mind meeting them, too.
Yesterday, I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. My Sunday afternoon reverie was interrupted by a car noisily speeding past, its sound system blaring. I looked up and was surprised to find that the driver looked strikingly similar to a friend of mine. But whereas my friend is generally quiet, conservative and bookish, this guy looked unkempt, rebellious and angry. He could've been my friend's grungy alter ego.
From the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe to Single White Female, doppelgangers permeate pop culture. I love the idea of a doppelganger. It disorients your sense of self. It makes you wonder, what if I'm not completely unique in the world? There's an episode of Star Trek in which Captain Kirk is split into two selves, one good but effete, the other evil yet strong-minded. No one notices that the 'good' Kirk has a doppelganger, until, in the story's climax, the two figures can be seen fighting each other. And in an episode of Buffy that pays homage to Star Trek, Xander is split into two, one weak-minded and anxious, the other forthright and ambitious.
Predictably, the moral of these stories is that both parts of the self -- the good and the bad, the weak and the strong -- are vital and interdependent. All well and good, but then what are we to make of the doppelgangers who appear consciously to impersonate originals? Are they necessary? A few years ago, I went to Disneyworld and encountered a truly terrifying thing: a Jerry Lewis lookalike. And soundalike, too. The Hollywood film buffoon's eternal man-child features and obnoxious car-alarm voice were almost perfectly emulated by an attendant working at the Peter Pan ride. Actually, it was hard to tell whether the attendant was consciously trying to act like Jerry Lewis, or whether Nature, alas, had simply molded him that way. Doppelgangers may be necessary components of the self in imaginative fiction, but do we really need more than Jerry Lewis in real life?
I haven't encountered my doppelganger yet, though a friend of mine has suggested that the psychologist played by B.D. Wong in Law&Order:SVU could be my slightly-older double. (Or maybe I'm his?) Still, if I do have a double out there somewhere, I'd love to meet him one day. And hey, if there are any doppelgangers of Rodrigo Santoro or Christian Monzon out there, I wouldn't mind meeting them, too.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
The Cross
The Cross
Last night, I had dinner with friends in King's Cross. In the fifties and sixties, the Cross was an affordable, slightly trendy location that benefited from the new waves of immigrants arriving in Sydney during that time. But in the following decades it became known as a dangerous and seedy entrepot for sex workers, drug dealers, and denizens of Sydney's underground. In recent years it's made a comeback and is now garnering a reputation as a space in which the young and upwardly mobile can play.
The circulation of different demographics in the area can cause some confusion. As a group of us waited at the lights to cross the road and walk towards the restaurant, one friend spotted someone she thought she knew. "I hope I don't bump into any of my clients tonight," she groaned as she leant wearily against a pole. She'd just come from work. She's a lawyer. She was talking about clients who are represented by her law firm. But you wouldn't have guessed that from the way people around us suddenly started looking at her.
Last night, I had dinner with friends in King's Cross. In the fifties and sixties, the Cross was an affordable, slightly trendy location that benefited from the new waves of immigrants arriving in Sydney during that time. But in the following decades it became known as a dangerous and seedy entrepot for sex workers, drug dealers, and denizens of Sydney's underground. In recent years it's made a comeback and is now garnering a reputation as a space in which the young and upwardly mobile can play.
The circulation of different demographics in the area can cause some confusion. As a group of us waited at the lights to cross the road and walk towards the restaurant, one friend spotted someone she thought she knew. "I hope I don't bump into any of my clients tonight," she groaned as she leant wearily against a pole. She'd just come from work. She's a lawyer. She was talking about clients who are represented by her law firm. But you wouldn't have guessed that from the way people around us suddenly started looking at her.
Friday, July 11, 2003
Hong Kong Handover
Hong Kong Handover
Hi, everyone. Adrian here. Thanks to Keith for handing over his blog to me for the next couple of months. Good luck with your studies, Keith, and come back soon, to both Sydney and cyberspace.
Keith's account of the way we discovered that each other is gay demonstrates how gay men naturally gravitate towards each other, even before they realize that they have their sexuality in common. Ok, so it happens a lot at the school we attended -- so much so, in fact, that a public tour of gay historical landmarks in Sydney supposedly includes a walk past the schoolgrounds. But it happens elsewhere, too. An acquaintance of mine once told me that his closest friends from high school, all of them football jocks and bodybuilders, separately outed themselves to him several years later, each requesting that he withhold the information from the others. And my brother told me that his circle of friends only discovered that each and every person in the group was gay when they went out to dinner one night. One individual's confession ("I have something to tell you guys") led, domino-like, for the person next to him, and eventually the whole table, to make exactly the same disclosure.
What Keith didn't mention in his last entry were the little things that, in retrospect, marked us out as different from early on. Like our telling mutual obsession with certain aspects of Melrose Place -- for instance, with Grant Show (mea culpa, mea oh-so-90's maxima culpa) and with how the fabulous Heather Locklear was singlehandedly saving the series from cancellation. (Hey Keith, nothing's changed, has it? Only we're now talking about Bradly Tomberlin, or Gabriel Aubry, and how the fabulous Megan Mullally works wonders on Will&Grace.)
What so often draws gays together, of course, is the common feeling of being isolated, of having a life secret that no one can know...a vitally important secret of which not even the person holding it may be aware. By the time we reach high school, our gaydar has already been installed, even though it may not be fully functioning.
But I wonder if today's gay high school students feel as though they're truly isolated. I mean, there's always the internet, right? Notwithstanding parental controls, the net is a great way for people to discover that they're linked to the great Gay Matrix (Keanu, join us). And I'm not talking about googling porn sites. Here, they can blog and read blogs by others. On the net, it's all the other stuff that tends to be kept secret -- what a person looks like, talks like, and how he behaves in public. In this respect, blogging isn't at all a matter of vanity-publishing (as a recent Newsweek/ Bulletin article called it); it's a useful way of connecting to like-minded people who you might not ordinarily have a chance to meet.
(This post is dedicated to a new friend of mine, who has only recently begun to acknowledge his sexuality and is dealing with the process of outing himself to others for the first time.)
Hi, everyone. Adrian here. Thanks to Keith for handing over his blog to me for the next couple of months. Good luck with your studies, Keith, and come back soon, to both Sydney and cyberspace.
Keith's account of the way we discovered that each other is gay demonstrates how gay men naturally gravitate towards each other, even before they realize that they have their sexuality in common. Ok, so it happens a lot at the school we attended -- so much so, in fact, that a public tour of gay historical landmarks in Sydney supposedly includes a walk past the schoolgrounds. But it happens elsewhere, too. An acquaintance of mine once told me that his closest friends from high school, all of them football jocks and bodybuilders, separately outed themselves to him several years later, each requesting that he withhold the information from the others. And my brother told me that his circle of friends only discovered that each and every person in the group was gay when they went out to dinner one night. One individual's confession ("I have something to tell you guys") led, domino-like, for the person next to him, and eventually the whole table, to make exactly the same disclosure.
What Keith didn't mention in his last entry were the little things that, in retrospect, marked us out as different from early on. Like our telling mutual obsession with certain aspects of Melrose Place -- for instance, with Grant Show (mea culpa, mea oh-so-90's maxima culpa) and with how the fabulous Heather Locklear was singlehandedly saving the series from cancellation. (Hey Keith, nothing's changed, has it? Only we're now talking about Bradly Tomberlin, or Gabriel Aubry, and how the fabulous Megan Mullally works wonders on Will&Grace.)
What so often draws gays together, of course, is the common feeling of being isolated, of having a life secret that no one can know...a vitally important secret of which not even the person holding it may be aware. By the time we reach high school, our gaydar has already been installed, even though it may not be fully functioning.
But I wonder if today's gay high school students feel as though they're truly isolated. I mean, there's always the internet, right? Notwithstanding parental controls, the net is a great way for people to discover that they're linked to the great Gay Matrix (Keanu, join us). And I'm not talking about googling porn sites. Here, they can blog and read blogs by others. On the net, it's all the other stuff that tends to be kept secret -- what a person looks like, talks like, and how he behaves in public. In this respect, blogging isn't at all a matter of vanity-publishing (as a recent Newsweek/ Bulletin article called it); it's a useful way of connecting to like-minded people who you might not ordinarily have a chance to meet.
(This post is dedicated to a new friend of mine, who has only recently begun to acknowledge his sexuality and is dealing with the process of outing himself to others for the first time.)
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Sabbatical
I received my exam results last Wednesday and they weren't v. good. Actually, they were pathetic. It seems I have to re-sit some exam papers in two subjects, in order to pass the course. I rushed back to HK on Monday in order to sort things out with the University. Revision classes have been scheduled and the exams are expected to be held in August. So much for my last months of freedom; so much for my life plans...
As you may already expect, I was completely shocked. It still seems unbelievable and v. surreal. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I'm a big dunce.
Now, I need to refocus. I'm determined to pass in the supplementaries in August, which means I won't be doing much else other than studying in the next couple of months. Blogging will have to be put on hold. Besides, I don't think people would want to read me whinge about what a big fat loser I feel like...
Instead, I have invited one of my best mates, Adrian, to be this blog's first "Special Guest Star".
I met Adrian, whilst we were studying at the Sydney Glamour School of Deportment for Social Delinquents, Rich Wankers and Over-Achievers. Like others who had strong queer sensibilities, we gravitated to each other and became friends during our years there. However, it was only during my brief stint as an exchange student in the US, during university, that we discovered that the other was a poof (which is hard to imagine these days). The rest, as they say, is history.
Although he does not have his own blog yet (methinks it will come soon enough), he has been v. blog-curious for a while. I'm sure his writing will be both fabulously witty and extremely entertaining. There will be some serious thought-provoking pieces within the mix as well... and expect there to be plenty of entries about men, men and more men.
See you on the other side...
I received my exam results last Wednesday and they weren't v. good. Actually, they were pathetic. It seems I have to re-sit some exam papers in two subjects, in order to pass the course. I rushed back to HK on Monday in order to sort things out with the University. Revision classes have been scheduled and the exams are expected to be held in August. So much for my last months of freedom; so much for my life plans...
As you may already expect, I was completely shocked. It still seems unbelievable and v. surreal. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I'm a big dunce.
Now, I need to refocus. I'm determined to pass in the supplementaries in August, which means I won't be doing much else other than studying in the next couple of months. Blogging will have to be put on hold. Besides, I don't think people would want to read me whinge about what a big fat loser I feel like...
Instead, I have invited one of my best mates, Adrian, to be this blog's first "Special Guest Star".
I met Adrian, whilst we were studying at the Sydney Glamour School of Deportment for Social Delinquents, Rich Wankers and Over-Achievers. Like others who had strong queer sensibilities, we gravitated to each other and became friends during our years there. However, it was only during my brief stint as an exchange student in the US, during university, that we discovered that the other was a poof (which is hard to imagine these days). The rest, as they say, is history.
Although he does not have his own blog yet (methinks it will come soon enough), he has been v. blog-curious for a while. I'm sure his writing will be both fabulously witty and extremely entertaining. There will be some serious thought-provoking pieces within the mix as well... and expect there to be plenty of entries about men, men and more men.
See you on the other side...
Monday, June 30, 2003
He's too good-looking to be gay...
If recent media reports (SMH, NYTimes, etc) and "the eyes on the streets" are to be believed, it has become way gay to be gay these days. Faggotry is out, "metrosexuality" is in. Straight boys have, in an ironic move in this age of ironic dressing, found a way to out-gay the gays!
Male breeders, in ever increasing numbers (and, quite surprisingly, with their own free-will) have adopted gay aesthetics for clothing, furnishings, etc; have developed a gay sense of style; and have gained a gay predilection for hygiene and grooming products. As a result, it seems they have out-coiffed, out-groomed and all-the-way out-muscled the male homo in the vanity stakes.
Like the acculturation of ethnic fashions and foods, the white straight male world has taken the "best" of what the gay minority has on offer - the sense of forward fashion and good aesthetics - made its modification, sanitized it (out go the leather and latex, etc), whilst avoiding all the unattractive bits (the same-sex stuff in general). These days, it seems our previous sexual identity has become redundant.
Metrosexuals seem to abound in Sydney these days and aren't restricted to geographical area of Paddington and the Eastern Suburbs. That sexy fellow on the street (or ever more increasingly in the gay bars and clothing stores) with the perfectly-tussled, highlighted hair, the amazing tan, great pecs and impeccable threads is almost always straight, these days. How things have changed... now it's the gay guys who are the ones who are saying, "It's such a shame he's straight..."
If recent media reports (SMH, NYTimes, etc) and "the eyes on the streets" are to be believed, it has become way gay to be gay these days. Faggotry is out, "metrosexuality" is in. Straight boys have, in an ironic move in this age of ironic dressing, found a way to out-gay the gays!
Male breeders, in ever increasing numbers (and, quite surprisingly, with their own free-will) have adopted gay aesthetics for clothing, furnishings, etc; have developed a gay sense of style; and have gained a gay predilection for hygiene and grooming products. As a result, it seems they have out-coiffed, out-groomed and all-the-way out-muscled the male homo in the vanity stakes.
Like the acculturation of ethnic fashions and foods, the white straight male world has taken the "best" of what the gay minority has on offer - the sense of forward fashion and good aesthetics - made its modification, sanitized it (out go the leather and latex, etc), whilst avoiding all the unattractive bits (the same-sex stuff in general). These days, it seems our previous sexual identity has become redundant.
Metrosexuals seem to abound in Sydney these days and aren't restricted to geographical area of Paddington and the Eastern Suburbs. That sexy fellow on the street (or ever more increasingly in the gay bars and clothing stores) with the perfectly-tussled, highlighted hair, the amazing tan, great pecs and impeccable threads is almost always straight, these days. How things have changed... now it's the gay guys who are the ones who are saying, "It's such a shame he's straight..."
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Well, slap me down and call me Gertrude... but I'm on my way back to Sydney. The university term has ended, and to my relief, all the assessments have been completed. I've even had a couple of weeks in HK to bum around, forget all that I've learnt during the past academic year, participate in a bit of hanky-panky (as if I would go into details... ), complain about all the people who have flew off already (darn bitches... ), and endure the terrible monsoonal weather (does terrible things to styled hair).
The weather has been truly disgusting - high temperatures, torrential rains and almost 100% humidity - everything which has made me wish that I had arranged to be back in the cooler (and drier) climes of Sydney earlier.
One thing that I have not been put-off by is the return of large crowds - on the street, in the malls, and absolutely everywhere. It's a sign of things returning to normal. Most folks have forgone the paper masks as well. Things are definitely on the rebound and people seem incredibly optimistic - something that hasn't been seen in HK, even post-SARS.
The World Health Organization lifted its travel advisory warning off Hong Kong some weeks ago. For an economy that derives an incredible amount of revenue from its tourism sector, the move by the WHO was seen as a godsend. There hasn't been a recorded case of SARS in the Region since last week, and many expect the WHO to drop the infected area label for HK by Monday.
A v. strange sense of patriotism has developed in HK. The Government has urged residents to leave their flats and spend, spend, spend for the sake of the economy. Local businesses have initiated a "We Love Hong Kong" campaign, while offering some sensational discounts. Somehow, in a city where business and commerce are its lifeblood, such a campaign seems pretty appropriate... and let me say, to the detriment of my bank account, I've been a pretty big "patriot" in recent weeks!
Over and out from Singapore Changi Airport.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
I'm alive!
Please accept my deepest apologies for not updating. Things have been a bit busy around here and my attention has been diverted away from this blog. Many thanks to all those who asked about my absence though.
I have to make this brief, as I am in the midst of finals. I plan to update folks on things next week, when I'll have a bit more time. All my written exams finish this Friday. Still, I'll have advocacy assessments to go after that... but they're like a walk in the park in comparison to some of those killer papers.
In the meantime, please check out Hong Kong Unmasked. It was uploaded yesterday. Like almost all the other projects initiated by the Civic Exchange (an independent HK think-tank), the website is pretty brilliant.
Please accept my deepest apologies for not updating. Things have been a bit busy around here and my attention has been diverted away from this blog. Many thanks to all those who asked about my absence though.
I have to make this brief, as I am in the midst of finals. I plan to update folks on things next week, when I'll have a bit more time. All my written exams finish this Friday. Still, I'll have advocacy assessments to go after that... but they're like a walk in the park in comparison to some of those killer papers.
In the meantime, please check out Hong Kong Unmasked. It was uploaded yesterday. Like almost all the other projects initiated by the Civic Exchange (an independent HK think-tank), the website is pretty brilliant.
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Lucky 13
Thirteen awesome new clips of different scenes in X2 have been posted at Countingdown!
Thirteen awesome new clips of different scenes in X2 have been posted at Countingdown!
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Movie Madness
I'm prepared to take the risk associated with being cooped up in a crowded room for the Hong Kong International Film Festival. I bought the tickets more than a month ago, and I'm not about to forgo the screenings.
Whilst I'm speaking about movies, there are a few coming out this year that sound like they will be worth the HK$50 ticket to see:
Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger play sparring lovers in (what only can be described as an homage to the gay - in all senses of the word - romantic comedies that starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day) Down With Love. Everything about it screams kitschy camp, from the director - Peyton Reed (whose first celluloid contribution was the seminal piece, Bring It On); to the setting - flashy 1960s New York; to the sets - all scenes were filmed inside a studio with painted backgrounds.
...and just when you thought things could not get more camp, a duet featuring the vocal stylings of Mr McGregor and Ms Zellwegger (and penned by the Hairspray team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), titled Here’s To Love, will run during the film's credits.
...and speaking of romantic comedies, the absolutely adorable Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts play American sisters looking for love in Paris in Merchant Ivory's Le Divorce. The film also features Stockard Channing and Glenn Close. Je ne peux pas attendre!
Quentin Tarantion's fourth film, Kill Bill, may not be a romantic comedy, but it's definitely filled to the brim with kitsch. Dubbed THE "exploitation" film to end all exploitation films, it is a homage to the Shaw Bros martial arts films made in the 1970s (amongst many other things). Uma Thurman plays a female assassin, named "The Bride", who is seeking revenge against her former boss, Bill (David Carradine). Killing Bill isn't so easy (or the film would be pretty short), as along the way, she is confronted by a few of her former colleagues (the DiVAS), played by Lucy Liu, Darryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and James Madsen. The teaser looks hilarious!
Doesn't Uma Thurman's yellow tracksuit look familiar? Well, it's a reference to the outfit worn by Bruce Lee in his last film.
For more Kill Bill trivia, check out here. It comes out v. late in the year.
For those who cannot get enough of cheesy retro-references, go check out the full theatrical trailer for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Lot's of crazy costumes, funny lines, and wacky action... all set to that kitsch classic, My Sharona. Even Demi Moore looks quite sensational (in all her new plastic glory) as the former-angel-gone-bad Madison.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that Matrix Reloaded is coming out? There are some cool animation shorts at the Animatrix. It's a shame it goes into cinemas two weeks after the premiere of the most anticipated film pour moi.
In a mere two weeks... I'll be first in line to see you-know-what. Early reviews of the X-Men sequel, X2: X-Men United are v. favourable.
For a non-trailer preview, here is a clip, in which Iceman "comes out" to his family.
I'm prepared to take the risk associated with being cooped up in a crowded room for the Hong Kong International Film Festival. I bought the tickets more than a month ago, and I'm not about to forgo the screenings.
Whilst I'm speaking about movies, there are a few coming out this year that sound like they will be worth the HK$50 ticket to see:
Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger play sparring lovers in (what only can be described as an homage to the gay - in all senses of the word - romantic comedies that starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day) Down With Love. Everything about it screams kitschy camp, from the director - Peyton Reed (whose first celluloid contribution was the seminal piece, Bring It On); to the setting - flashy 1960s New York; to the sets - all scenes were filmed inside a studio with painted backgrounds.
...and just when you thought things could not get more camp, a duet featuring the vocal stylings of Mr McGregor and Ms Zellwegger (and penned by the Hairspray team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), titled Here’s To Love, will run during the film's credits.
...and speaking of romantic comedies, the absolutely adorable Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts play American sisters looking for love in Paris in Merchant Ivory's Le Divorce. The film also features Stockard Channing and Glenn Close. Je ne peux pas attendre!
Quentin Tarantion's fourth film, Kill Bill, may not be a romantic comedy, but it's definitely filled to the brim with kitsch. Dubbed THE "exploitation" film to end all exploitation films, it is a homage to the Shaw Bros martial arts films made in the 1970s (amongst many other things). Uma Thurman plays a female assassin, named "The Bride", who is seeking revenge against her former boss, Bill (David Carradine). Killing Bill isn't so easy (or the film would be pretty short), as along the way, she is confronted by a few of her former colleagues (the DiVAS), played by Lucy Liu, Darryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and James Madsen. The teaser looks hilarious!
Doesn't Uma Thurman's yellow tracksuit look familiar? Well, it's a reference to the outfit worn by Bruce Lee in his last film.
For more Kill Bill trivia, check out here. It comes out v. late in the year.
For those who cannot get enough of cheesy retro-references, go check out the full theatrical trailer for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Lot's of crazy costumes, funny lines, and wacky action... all set to that kitsch classic, My Sharona. Even Demi Moore looks quite sensational (in all her new plastic glory) as the former-angel-gone-bad Madison.
Is there anyone who doesn't know that Matrix Reloaded is coming out? There are some cool animation shorts at the Animatrix. It's a shame it goes into cinemas two weeks after the premiere of the most anticipated film pour moi.
In a mere two weeks... I'll be first in line to see you-know-what. Early reviews of the X-Men sequel, X2: X-Men United are v. favourable.
For a non-trailer preview, here is a clip, in which Iceman "comes out" to his family.
Monday, April 07, 2003
Mighty Atom
To the original go-go boy (look at those boots, that spiky hair, those tight black shorts and those machine-gun buttocks...), happy birthday Astro Boy!
When Osamu Tezuka dreamed up a lovable robot, called Tetsuwan Atomu, in 1951, he gave his creation a far-out birthdate of April 7, 2003.
Astro Boy was the star of Japan's first domestically-produced television cartoon show, in the early 1960s. However, it was with the broadcast of a second series in colour, in the early 1980s, which endeared the Mighty Atom to a generation of non-Japanese viewers. (So many hours were spent in front of the idiot box watching the ABC's after-school line-up... expect a fresh series to enchant another generation soon.) To many, it was our first salivating taste of Japanese anime.
To the original go-go boy (look at those boots, that spiky hair, those tight black shorts and those machine-gun buttocks...), happy birthday Astro Boy!
When Osamu Tezuka dreamed up a lovable robot, called Tetsuwan Atomu, in 1951, he gave his creation a far-out birthdate of April 7, 2003.
Astro Boy was the star of Japan's first domestically-produced television cartoon show, in the early 1960s. However, it was with the broadcast of a second series in colour, in the early 1980s, which endeared the Mighty Atom to a generation of non-Japanese viewers. (So many hours were spent in front of the idiot box watching the ABC's after-school line-up... expect a fresh series to enchant another generation soon.) To many, it was our first salivating taste of Japanese anime.
Friday, April 04, 2003
School's out
The university has extended the suspension period for another week, till 14 April. Schools have a more cautious attitude and will be closed until 21 April.
Things are in disarray. When will the semester end now? Will the examination period stretch to the end of June now? When will I be able to go back to Sydney?
The university has extended the suspension period for another week, till 14 April. Schools have a more cautious attitude and will be closed until 21 April.
Things are in disarray. When will the semester end now? Will the examination period stretch to the end of June now? When will I be able to go back to Sydney?
Thursday, April 03, 2003
Revelation 13:1–2
When senior medical officials inappropriately weep openly in front of members of the media or outrageously equate the spread of atypical pneumonia with the Holocaust, you know things aren't too well.
The local government severely underestimated the problem and is now paying dearly for their earlier complacency. Beijing's response to the outbreak until today can be only be described as pathetic. The lack of governmental leadership, guidance and reassurance has allowed for the spread of misinformation and rumour-mongering. Things don't look pretty; the whole city is completely demoralised.
Schools have closed indefinitely, streets are less crowded, restaurants and shopping malls are empty. University classes have been suspended until Monday. Many folks have braved the 8 hour flight and have flown home to Sydney.
At times of crisis, it is easy to see how people's sense of rationalism disappear - they turn into mindless automatons driven by a silly herd-like mentality. A little teenage nit-wit's tasteless April Fool's joke caused panic buying in supermarkets. The internet rumours he created stated that HK was declared an infected area, the Chief Executive resigned and the Hang Seng index collapsed. People believed in the absurd. The Government sought to quell the rumours and requested the six major mobile networks to broadcast a message to 6 million mobile phones. At least they are doing something decent now...
When senior medical officials inappropriately weep openly in front of members of the media or outrageously equate the spread of atypical pneumonia with the Holocaust, you know things aren't too well.
The local government severely underestimated the problem and is now paying dearly for their earlier complacency. Beijing's response to the outbreak until today can be only be described as pathetic. The lack of governmental leadership, guidance and reassurance has allowed for the spread of misinformation and rumour-mongering. Things don't look pretty; the whole city is completely demoralised.
Schools have closed indefinitely, streets are less crowded, restaurants and shopping malls are empty. University classes have been suspended until Monday. Many folks have braved the 8 hour flight and have flown home to Sydney.
At times of crisis, it is easy to see how people's sense of rationalism disappear - they turn into mindless automatons driven by a silly herd-like mentality. A little teenage nit-wit's tasteless April Fool's joke caused panic buying in supermarkets. The internet rumours he created stated that HK was declared an infected area, the Chief Executive resigned and the Hang Seng index collapsed. People believed in the absurd. The Government sought to quell the rumours and requested the six major mobile networks to broadcast a message to 6 million mobile phones. At least they are doing something decent now...
