On The Rope Again

I managed to decode Onanymous odorous word, so it's my turn AGAIN.

Guess away!

L.I.B.R.E.T.T.O - The text of an opera or musical

_____

|   |

|   O

|  ~|~

|  /

|_____

G, N, P, D, W, A, C

More, Even

Mmmm, cats. Anyone remember that furry guy from Melmac? Well, he's BACK! Alf now has his own talk show! I kid you not.

Rumour has it that our favourite Angel women are in the running to play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman flick. Amy Acker and Charisma Carpenter have both been listed as possibilities from an 'inside source'. Along with Kerri Russell and Natalie Portman and two others I don't know. Amy Acker has denied she'd auditioned.

SMG talks about her new film The Grudge and a little bit about Buffy.

South Park crossed with Buffy?? Have a laugh.

Joss says he's not writing nor directing X-Men 3, but he would be interested in doing a Faith spin off now that Eliza is free from her Calling. I find this unlikely now that he's shut down Mutant Enemy though.

Way To Much

I have previously criticised Sarah Michelle Gellar for portraying no interest in giving anything back to the fans, i.e. the people who make or break her. Her obvious absence in any DVD extra feature, or commentary, non attendance at the Posting Board Party or convention events. In an interview with Sci Fi Wire she defends her absence from DVD commentaries by claiming to be far too busy. I well accept that she would have been so, but put it in perspective here. Joss Whedon still found time to record commentaries for Buffy AND Angel while still running those shows along with Firefly, write a comic and a musical. Now, I know he’s a master geek, but at least he knows how to give back to we fans.

In another article SMG comments on the Buffy toon that is in the works right now. She is avoiding commitment (to many comments to make) at the moment and is unwilling to sign onto anything long term. The way the toon was pitched ‘to her’ was 'She can turn into things and have magical powers'. Does that sound remotely like the way it would be pitched? I’m confused.

Tru Calling is in contract hell. As previously reported, Fox had cut the 13 episode order down to 6, then as the 6th episode completed filming they stopped production. Eliza Dushku and Shawn Reeves appeared at a convention recently and announced that it had been canned. No official word from Fox has been given. Apparently Fox Studios is looking to farm the show out to the WB, but Fox Network has yet released the contract for the show. The DVDs for the first season are due for release in the near future. If sales go well, the 6 episodes filmed of the second season may be released on DVD, otherwise we’re just going to have to trust Jane Espenson when she claims they are far better than all of the first season’s.

Bad news folks. Joss has shut down Mutant Enemy. Apparently, he’s out of ideas for TV shows! What this means is don’t be holding your breath for anything Buffy or Angel related in the near future. No Angel mini-series, no Buffy toon, no nufin! At least we have Serenity to look forward too.

If you’ve read this post this far, then you are rewarded with a funny conundrum that I found. Well, not really a conundrum, I just like the word, but have a read of this short article and see what you think of the last paragraph. It’s a segue too loose for even me!

Technical Difficulties

I am having issues getting online at the moment, so, until I can sort it out I'll be a bit quiet.

Enough Already

Andrew Denton's Enough Rope is one of the best, if not THE best interview show on the box. Interviewing a vast array of interesting individuals from the biggest name to the humblest hero. Tonight he interviewed Aron Rolston, an American who, while hiking, got himself stuck down a crevice in Utah and has written a book about his ordeal.

His right hand became jammed between a boulder and the rock wall. A harrowing story of survival, he was in this position for 6 days with only one small water bottle. On the sixth day, he cut off his right hand to break free.

In this 30 minute interview he went into great detail about surviving for so long, including drinking his own urine, and spent five minutes describing how he cut all of the skin, muscle, and tendons, but that was after coming to the realisation that he'd need to break the bones first, otherwise it was a pointless task.

I don't think I have ever been so uncomfortable in my life. His description of cutting tendons had me roiling in my seat. I was intent on watching because I wanted to know how it all panned out, but I was really affected by it.

Who says simple storytelling is a lost art.

Would I be able to make that choice and follow through with the decision? I just hope that I'm never in a circumstance to find out.

Euphemismic

I came up with this the other night, then Pickwick emailed me my horoscope for this week. I had to do it.

This is the beta test of Euphemismic the simple game where you, dear reader, come up with the funniest and most original euphemisms. 'Tis simple as leaving a comment and sending an email.

Think of your euphemism and write an anonymous comment on this post. Email me the euphemism so I can find out who wrote it. You can be as crafty as you wish.

If you're the first person to write a comment you can wait till there are others. I will do my best to avoid knowing who wrote what comment, so be sure to label the email you send as Euphemismic.

The prize will be something spectacularly lame.

Hope this is fun!

First phrase to think of a euphemism for is:


TO DIE.


Remember. I said original, so 'kick the bucket' is out!

Trailer Park

I've seen a few trailers I liked the look of recently.

Pixar's new all human flick is 'The Incredibles'. Based around a family of super people it looks pretty cool and like heaps of summer fun. Released Dec 26th.

It seems that Tim Allen is cursed to be in Christmas movies for the rest of his career. He was wonderful in 'Who Is Cletis Tout'. Anyway, you'll catch him in 'Christmas with the Kranks'. The trailer looked rather amusing, so I'll check it out when it opens Dec 2nd.

Now some people loathe the idea of musicals being made into films. I tend to wait to see what they do, and then judge. Which is why I am actually looking forward to 'Phantom of the Opera'. Seen it live, now I want to see how they make it a movie. The trailer isn't great. Lots of quick flashes, which are not the best to look at for a long time. See it Dec 26th.

Other films opening soon that I'm looking forward to are:

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Dec 16th
Lord of the Rings Extended Marathon - Nov 25th
Stage Beauty - Nov 25th
Hero - Nov 4th

Bring on Summer!

Val Morgan and Birch.com.au give me those dates. Now I just got to get me a real one.

Don't Flip Me The Bird!

I love The Thunderbirds supermarionation. If I had the will power to get up at 6am on Saturdays I'd watch it every week. Instead I'm left to reminisce the times when I'd remember to set the VCR and watch it at a far more reasonable hour. Anyway, TBirds good fun.

When I heard about the movie adaptation I was interested. When I heard that Jonathan Frakes was directing I was concerned. When I saw production photos I was rather impressed. When I read about the plot direction I was worried.

I had subconsciously decided not to see this at the cinema, so I didn't go out of my way to see it. Then, there I was with time to kill and few options left to see. I went into the cinema with sensibly low expectations of nothing more than wanting to enjoy the film.

I walked into the cinema to find it empty. Not that that is unusual, I tend to be early, but when the lights went down the the local advertising started I had a second look around to double check I was not mistaken about being the only one. So I sat back, slipped of my shoes and began my private screening of The Thunderbirds.

The basic basics of this film are International Rescue is lured away from their secret island head quarters and they get trapped on the space station. So what that leaves is the youngest Tracy brother, Alan, Brains' son, Furmat, and Tintin to save the day.

The three young actors have to drive this film and they only moderately succeed. Brady Corbet looks like your typical Hollywood teen boy: rather girly. Far to pink lipstick and a lisp that ith not going to make hith life easy ath an actor. Soren Fulton and Vanessa Anne Hudgens both do ok jobs as the sidekicks but none of the young actors have the chops to really make me enthralled by their stories.

The morals and conflicts are dealt with a heavy hand. There is no way you'd miss them when a character all but yells out 'Oh, I shouldn't have done that because my friends may get hurt'. I don't know whether this is a scripting flaw or Frakes' handling of the material.

I went into Tbirds with the hope of seeing them in action, I was to be disappointed. The real Thunderbirds are marooned in the space station for 90% of the film. The casting of the Tracy's was very good, and I was waiting for the brothers to slip into full Rescue mode, but all I got was the opening sequence. All that did was leave me wanting more Rescue and less teen angst.

The highlight, for me, was Lady Penelope and Parker. I always liked Parkers dry wit and "Yes, m'lady", and Ron Parker does a wonderful rendition. Believe it or not, Lady P and Parker kick ass. Possibly the highlight of the film, being deprived of other action.

The result is a satisfactory film the whole family will likely appreciate, but for anyone who enjoyed the original you'll be left wanting more.

Also, you'll leave with the Thunderbirds theme in your head. Which will take 3 days to go away.

Slapped With A Wet Fish

Hollywood is all about recycling. Why come up with a new idea, or a fantastic original concept when you can just steal it from somewhere else! Add to this the pathetic need of studios to out-do each other, and it's no wonder we are getting so much twaddle on the silver screen. There really are too many examples of this to list, so I'll just get to the point.

Shark Tale is all about 'star power'. What is the worst thing about it? The 'star power'. If this was a live action film the cast would be an amazing mix and, depending on everything else, would likely make a killing. Instead the effect this calibre cast has on this animation is the absolute opposite of what we come to expect from an animated feature.

Shark Tale is 90 minutes of pure Will Smith. I like him, he's funny and has done some good work, but in this environment it is just too much. Rather than creating a character we can love because of it's unique characteristics we are forced to observe Will Smith... as a fish. And that is what every character is like. It's the actor, as a fish. Robert De Niro is laughable (the bad kind) as the Mob Boss father, and Jack Black's Lenny has such an irritating voice that I kept cringing.

Cringe is what I did throughout this film. I found the design of the fish rather ugly. It looked to be a symptom of trying to make the fish look more human. Oscar is so lithe that some of his poses looked very wrong, totally unnatural. The extreme close-ups of Angelina Jolie's 'Lola' were disturbing enough that I looked away each time.

I didn't enjoy the general production design at all. The fish city was simply a wet New York, that didn't succeed in any of the visual gags it was attempting to set up.

I'm not even going to waste more than one sentence on the horror that was the 'car wash' song at the end.

As a comedy play on the Mobster movie, I can't say how well it did as I'm not familiar enough with that genre, but as a kids feature animation it's all show and no heart. Littlies will still enjoy it, but take a book and a pen light to keep you occupied, otherwise you're likely to leave with the regret of losing 90 minutes of life you can't get back.

See how I managed to get all this way without mentioning Nemo?

Bugger.

They've Gone Completely Mad

You expect free-to-air TV networks to screw us. You expect them to change their minds, pull the plug and make it as difficult for us to enjoy the experience of viewing as possible. But it has just gone too far!

Seven and Nine have totally lost the plot. Tonight I was looking forward to seeing From Hell, the Ripper story with Johnny Depp. I'd been to afraid to see it at the cinema, and had forgotten about it. So when I flick over to Seven at 8:30pm what am I looking at? Not Johnny. No! I'm looking at John.

John Travolta to be precise! Was I ticked? YES!

Was I surprised? No.

It seems that Seven and Nine are suffering from some form of panic attack. Neither are confident about what they schedule, so they pull it at the last minute. Tonight is a great example; Seven replaces From Hell with Domestic Disturbance, Nine replaces Training Day with a 'Sunday Crime Double' (sound familiar?) of C.S.I. and Cold Case. All because they were afraid they'd get no one NOT watching the ARIAs. I wasn't watching them and had no intention of doing so. Grrrr.

The scary part is tonight isn't the first time in recent weeks for this to happen. Last night Nine did the same thing. Pulled The Little Vampire and Analyze This and replaced them with Crocodile Dundee and Lethal Weapon 2. What sort of shmucks do they take us for? Do they think that playing a classic (yet tired) 80s film is more likely to get us to watch than a kids film, which are rare enough already?

Get your act together Seven and Nine or don't bother publishing what you intend to air.

No Noose Is Good Noose

Received my daily update in my inbox the other day from TV Guide. I was surprised to read this:

EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: The Beatles are joining forces with Cirque du Soleil to produce a major Las Vegas production that will replace Siegfried & Roy's show at The Mirage hotel-casino. Cirque will have unlimited access to the group's musical archive and, although they won't appear in the show, surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will help shape the $100-million production.

Sounds like fun.

In the meantime, Cirque's new show, KA will be something for me to dream about one day seeing. In the meantime I'll be sure to check out the Stage Manager's Log, the most important job in the whole show!

Swinging in the Rain

I managed to decode Onanymous' excellent word, so it's my turn again.

Guess away!

I.N.V.O.L.U.T.E - Intricate; complex. To curl inward.

Congrats Inspiral! Have fun trying to hang us.

______

¦    |

¦    O

¦   -|

¦

¦_____

N, I, B, F, Q, L, S, O, G

All Men Are Liars

This film was on in the wee hours of this morning on Nine. I hit record on the VCR and went to bed, intending to view today. What a bizarre, yet interesting, Aussie film. Set in a small country town, Mick is the son of the town's barber and local musician. His parents are having marital issues, Dad sold Mum's piano for $120, and Mum has moved into the pub. So in an effort to coax his Mum back he poses as a woman to join an all girl band.

Not the most original of concepts and not a very complex plot, but what I really liked about it is the isolated feel the whole film has. Mick obviously has no friends; his younger brother barely tolerates him and his father thinks he's a 'homosexual'. So when he joins the band posing as a woman, of course he becomes friends with the girl he's attracted to.

Quaint and quirky without the insanity of similar Australian films of this nature (Welcome to Whoop Whoop anyone?). All Men Are Lairs is sure to strike a chord with the women folk and be entertaining for the men folk.

Underground, Overground, Wombling Free

The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we.

I love that show. But that's not what I'm writing about. A couple of Monday's ago I went to see a preview of 'Shall We Dance', but a simple confusion of dates means we arrived a week early. Instead of abandoning filmic plans, we saw Wimbledon.

Starring Paul Bettany and Kirstin Dunst as two Pro Tennis Players. Wimbledon is a stock standard romcom. Boy and girl meet, instant attraction and then something comes between them. Obviously, in this case, it's tennis.

Peter Colt is ranked 117th, sorry, 111th and is expected to bow out in the first round. Everyone is surprised when he wins the match, but not nearly as much as Colt himself. He announces his intention of retirement at the end of the tournament. Dunst's Lizzie Bradbury is an up and coming star who plays an aggressive game. She is ploughing her way up the rankings.

Bettany is charming and Dunst is a good match for him (ahem). Both characters are potentially two dimensional but are given pleasing depth and believability. There is a battle for screen time between the love story and tennis matches, but either way you want it to go there seems to be enough of both to satisfy.

The tennis footage is excellent. The actors who played onscreen were very convincing, I never had one of those 'what da?' moments, because the actor is clearly not capable of what their stunt double has just pulled off. When the going gets tense the ball does turn into a CG creation, but you'd have to be looking rather hard to pick it (I usually am).

Wimbledon is a pleasing sports romcom with elements for a good 'chick flick' and enough grunting for a sports movie. Worth seeing on the big screen for the tennis, or if you want to drool over it's stars.

I'm A Princeth!

Not really, but you'd better be with a small child, preferably a girl if you go and see Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement.

After catching the first installment on TV a few nights prior, I was willing to take along my 13yo cousin along. Hoping for a light film with a few good laughs. I didn't mind the first, full of fluff and set-up gags it was fine for a Sunday night in front of the TV. I didn't have expectations for PD2 except what the original had provided.

Bad mistake. Where PD gives us high school angst with the usual problems of image and popularity, PD2 gives us responsibility and relationship issues.

Set 5 years after the original Anne Hathaway's character Mia is now 21. So one would expect her to be dealing with a few more 'grown up' issues. Attempts are made to do so, but fail miserably because they don't want to totally lose all the 10 year old fidgets. Rather than walk a fine line of dealing with the real issues of having to find a husband, they mention them and move on to physical humour.

The night before she is set to marry the 'appropriate' guy, not the so very flawed and badly acted 'right guy', she has a Hen's party. She doesn't go out and get trashed, there's no stripper nor any of the other usual debauchery you would expect at such an event. No. She has a 'sleep over' with a bunch of, you guessed it, 12 year olds.

Julie Andrews is such a force that you could put her in anything and she'd still be amazing. She does 'sing' in this film and hearing the rough edge to her voice is more heartbreaking than fun.

If you are looking for some sugary nothing to fill an evening then watch Princess Diaries, but I would avoid the sequel, another victim of sequelism.

End of the Line

Yesterday I purchased the final pack of Buffy DVDs. I now own all of them. 144 episode of TV history. I remember after watching the final ep that it didn't seem real, and having Angel on every week let me live on with that delusion. Now Angel has finished and I own all of the Buffys I can own. It really is over and will never be again.

As the pack I bought was season 7 part 1 I've started to watch them so I can see them at their finest. The difference watching them on DVD is astounding. I know fairly well what happens in each ep, yet, with the widescreen and excellent sound, things seem all new. There were a few excellent jump moments in the first ep, and tonight I watched 'Same Time, Same Place'. The Gnarl is one of the best and freakiest demons to terrorise our heros. It was like watching the eps for the first time again. I'm thriving on this and will continue.

I am eagerly awaiting 'Conversations with Dead People'. I miss the buzz of week to week watching and am hoping to find something to fill the hole.

Consequences

All over tonight's news coverage was the national outrage at the booting of Ricki Lee from Australian Idol. I viewed most of the past 2 Sunday night shows to see how the finalists were going. Last week I was unimpressed with the people I thought were good early on, and impressed with the people I don't particularly like. The short guy's rendition of 'The Prayer' was surprising, and, I admit, it was rather good.

This weeks Beatles' theme was going to be a toughy. I liked most but a few bombed. Ricki Lee hit the hardest.

So why, then, is the media in an uproar over her removal from the competition? It's a week to week vote, and if you're crap one week, you'll get dumped. People have survived on popularity alone before (*cough* Shannon Noll *cough*), but eventually get taken down by more talented people. So, obviously Ricki Lee's popularity wasn't strong enough to take the blow of a distastrous performance.

As Dicko said, it's a tough biz. If you go out and perform to an audience who has paid money to see you, you'd better not blow it. You're only as good as your last performance is the saying.

I hope Ricki Lee is able to use the exposure she received to her advantage, and if she has what it takes, then we'll see more of her.

Something Old and Something new...

This week sees the return of one of my guilty pleasures. The Amazing Race is back and it's back at a reasonable hour! Thursday at 8:30pm on Seven. They have advertised it as 'back by popular demand', which makes sense when last year they moved it around so much even I lost track of it.

Also returning this week is The Dead Zone. Nine is the culprit this time. This show also played the 'where will I be this week' game. Gets old real fast. Thursday night at 10:45. Lets hope it gets to stay thereabouts for a while.

Two new shows caught my eye this week. The first is Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). A BBC show from 2000, it's a duet crime show where one partner happens to be dead. English style with great special effects are the drawcards for me. I'll give it a go. Wednesday night on Seven at, brace yourself, 1:00am (as in Thursday morning).

The second is Jeremiah. Straight off it's got a few things against it. It stars Luke Perry. It's created by the same guy who made Babylon 5. It's not an original concept either. All the adults are killed and now the children are adults. It has another cast member you may recognise, Sean Astin. The blurb is:

Jeremiah lives in a post-apocalyptic world following "The Big Death," a mysterious but devastating plague which claimed the lives of billions of people -- everyone above the age of puberty.

The world, for this generation of lost children, was shattered forever when they were forced to bury their parents. Life has become a bleak and seemingly soulless attempt to stay alive - to plunder, forage or barter for food and clothes and to seek out the sordid and fleeting pleasures that briefly distract them from their lives of terror and savage desperation.

It began in the US in 2002 and is apparently still running, although I find it odd that Perry has just joined Tru Calling as a regular. Two shows at once is tricky! Jeremiah is on Thursday night at 12 midnight on Seven.

Here's hoping!

News Hound

The Animated Buffy is still in the works. Showtime have been rumoured to have expressed interest and if no US network picks it up you can bet that I'll be buying it on DVD :-)

If you love Giles, you can have a piece of him; for the right price, of course. Anthony Stewart Head is auctioning off the specs he wore as Giles to raise money to build a theatre in his home town of Bath.

Remember the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books? Well look out for 'Choose Your Own Buffy Adventure'! The Suicide King and Keep Me In Mind will have over a dozen endings. Cool!

When is too old too old? When someone is playing a character half her age...

Recipe for bad: Take two wonderful films, remove original creators, and add two sequels. Scary.

Don't Hang Me

Ok, as I guessed Ben's word, I have had the noose passed to me.

E.G.G.N.O.G

 _____

 ¦   ¦

 ¦   o

 ¦  -¦-

 ¦

_/¦\_____

N C R H S L T Y

Congrats Onanymous for correctly guessing just in the nick of time.

Fingernails

I am recovering nail biter.

Something I inherited from my Dad. My whole life, I never had nails. I really hated it, but could not not do it. Until, when I was in uni, I made a mental decision and within a month had healthy nails of decent length. Then, I'd get stressed-out; they would all go within a week. This past year I've relapsed twice. I'm back with nails again and I can't think how I ever do without them, they are so very handy!

I predict my next relapse around the 10th of December...

4400 Bottles of Beer...

If you've been watching Ten lately, then chances are you've seen one of their teasers for the mini-series The 4400. At first I thought this was just another drama miniseries that I would avoid, then I saw an extended trailer for it, and it caught my attention. Here's Ten's blurb:

Over the last century, thousands of people have gone missing. Suddenly and inexplicably, 4400 missing people are returned all at once, as they were on the day they vanished. Unclear what this world altering-event means, the government investigates the 4400 to piece together where they've been and why they've been returned. It quickly becomes apparent that their presence will change the human race in ways no one could have ever foreseen.

Sounds and looks a little X files-ian, and thus is worth a look on Sunday night. If you want to find out more before then, check out the official site.

Panel Beater

I am an irregular viewer of The Panel, mainly because of one person. Kate. I like to think that I am, generally, above disliking TV personalities. I accept that shows I watch will feature characters I don't like. I am able to accept that I don't like the character and not blame the actor. The unfortunate thing is she's not playing a part. I have always found her irritating, enough so that I will occasionally speak harshly at the TV, something it doesn't deserve. Tonight they revealed she's having another child, and I was completely repulsed by that thought. As if one isn't enough, now she's multiplying.

I'll stop being mean.

The other thing about The Panel tonight was they stole my shtick about Elton John's latest anger-management issues. I said out loud, 'Bugger! I wanted to post about that tonight!'. So instead, I'll just complain that they beat me to it.

A Superior Person

...Requires superior books. A superior person also needs to use good words. Thankfully Peter Bowler has written not one, not two, but three books that give us just that! I only found The Superior Person's Book of Words in a local bookshop yesterday and I got a little too excited about it. I resisted the urge to buy it and The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird and Wondrous Words. Now that I've just done an Amazon search, I was elated to discover a third in the series: The Superior Person's Third Book of Well-Bred Words.

This continues my recent habit of buying books about words. Two weeks ago I walked out of Angus and Robertson with the classic English how-to books 'Usage and Abusage' and 'Plain Words'. Usage and Abusage is excellent reading.

In the same splurge, I found a Simon Winchester hard cover collection for only $7! It has three novels within; The River at the Centre of the World; The Surgeon of Crowthorne; and The Map That Changed The World. I admit that The River wasn't a book I was looking to buy, but The Surgeon and The Map were two books I wanted. With my bent for buying books about words it was inevitable that I read a book about the creation of the ultimate book about words, the OED.

Pleasantville - The Experience

Ever since the first time I saw Pleasantville I've wondered what I would be like to have that experience for myself. What show would I want to be zapped into? There is the obvious, but where else would I like to visit? Would I want to stay?

I will ponder a little longer.

Feel free to share thoughts, comments, and/or fantasies? :-)

Paper Cuts - Antrax Letter

Underwhelmed, or perhaps only whelmed (if that's even possible). That's how I feel about the Terry Brooks series The Voyage of Jerle Shannara. I'm currently midway through the third volume called 'Morgawr'.

Antrax is the middle and second book. Starting with a flashback to explain the 'cliffhanger' at the end of book one, the crew of The Jerle Shannara are asunder around the city of Castledown.

I have been enjoying them, but haven't been excited about returning each night. The characters and the world are solid, the plot is interesting and events are quick enough in coming that I don't get bored, yet there is something missing.

Bek Rowe and the discovery of his heritage; his link to the Isle Witch; Walker's quest for the books; and the discovery of Antrax are good stories. The interweaving of multiple stories, 5 at one point, is successful but I felt some of the characters get left behind, for example Quentin, Bek's cousin.

Antrax is a worthy successor to the Isle Witch, I hope that Morgawr will fulfill my needs for a good read. I think it'll be time for a change in pace after this book.

Unsinkable

Channel 7 is dipping back into the barrel of 'what haven't we aired for 6 months'. Tonight was the annual airing of Titanic.

Love it or hate it, Titanic is an iconic film from the end of last century. Let me tell you a boring story.

When I was in primary school, our library got a new book about the largest ship in the world. I borrowed it, and got totally enthralled in by the whole thing. I read that book cover to cover and could sprout facts and plenty of useless details about the ship and what happened to it. Fast forward 10, or so, years and there was no chance of me not going to see a film about it.

I, of course, loved it and went back to see it thrice. My first multiple cinema viewing. It wasn't the love story or anything like that, I was totally hooked by the ship and the people who populated it. There were imperfections left, right and centre, but I can forgive that because it is a film and not a documentary.

The level of detail is excellent and I'm still amazed at how they managed to find good actors who look exactly like the real people.

I hadn't watched Titanic for a couple of years now, but decided to watch it tonight. I had to laugh at myself, because within the first 15 minutes I was reciting lines word for word.

I'm not sad. Really I'm not.

There were 14 in the bed...

...and the little one said "Roll over you great lumps!".

I should be writing about The Princess Diaries 2, which I saw on Friday. Instead, I'm going to blab about Cheaper By The Dozen, because I watched it on DVD tonight.

I didn't get to see this at the cinema, and wasn't concerned as I dubbed it a DVD film anyhow. Am glad I made the effort to actually hire the DVD, as I am likely to buy it now.

I am an on/off fan of Steve Martin. His comedy is typically to my liking, but sometimes it misses it's mark (Bringing Down The House). In Dozen he hits all the right marks and bring comedy with heart to a wonderful family comedy.

Bonnie Hunt is a perfect on screen match for Martin. She is one of those actors who can get the laugh from the simplest look or phrase.

The base story of family being the most important is ok as the driving force for the plot, but it does get swamped by a number of subplots that do well individually, but come across as slightly patchworked. A result of having four screenwriters perhaps. Overall it works, and this movie can be forgiven nearly everything when you look at the cast.

Aside from the 'name' actors, the younger unknown cast make and steal every scene they are in. It is a blast watching these kids wreak havoc everywhere they go is very funny and a lot of fun. Both sets of twins are classics to watch, and the girl who comes up with all the plans is a mini version of Aphrodite from BB4 this year. Scary.

Tom Welling is convincing as Charlie. I found it easy to forget his super persona (much like the character), and he managed to convey the eldest's anger without flying off the handle. Piper Perabo is fine as the eldest who just wants to escape, but she is under used. It's a symptom of having 14 main characters, you want to see more of everyone, but can't. Asthma Kutcher and Hillary Duff aren't anything special to me. Kutcher is amusing in 'That 70's Show", but I've not liked him in anything else. Hillary Duff is the devil incarnate. I managed to resist the urge to lay out plastic in case my head began to spin around and, well, everyone knows what comes next. Thankfully, she's not onscreen much.

Dozen delivers the goods as a family comedy everyone should enjoy. For an extra laugh watch the deleted scenes, but for some real extra fun listen to the commentary that features the younger kids. It's wonderful to listen to what they talk about and how they laugh all the time.

Tempus Fugit

It's October already! Now it's the 3rd of October! Where did this year go? I've been constantly blogging since April. I've not worked near enough this year. How has it gone by so quickly? In 32 days I'm going away, and 30 days after that will be the last show I will work on this year. Then it is 2 months till my next job. How can the first 60 days seem so short, yet the next feel like they will last forever.

Happy Birthday Draic :-)

Post It Issue

When does it become a problem?

When my list of potential post topics spills onto 4 post-it notes? I feel a need to blurge so I can purge myself of this list.