Trailer Park

I've finally gotten off my butt and found my login details for the Browncoats, and got the link for the Serenity trailer. It looks fantastic! Well worth patiently downloading. Strangely it's not yet linked to from the Serenity official website.

If you want to download the trailer click this link. This is the smallest version, as I've a very slow connection, I can find the other links on request.

A Serious Read

Take hundreds of Spaniards add an aniversary of a favourite 400 year old book and what do you have?

48 hours of the quietest celebration in history.

Slightly Parched

I'd not really heard much about Sahara other than seeing the poster at the cinema and online. Matthew McConaughey isn't someone I usually go see willingly, and Penelope Cruz doesn't exactly have a high standing in my eyes. So strangely enough, I wander to the cinema and hand over my money for Sahara.

I like adventure films, hunting for hidden treasures, and unlocking age-old secrets, but there haven't been many recently that have invoked the sense of joy and adventure that I truly seek in this type of film. National Treasure was very blah, and that's the only one I can recall seeing since Pirates of the Caribbean.

Sahara is a visually rich film. It would have to be with the stunning locations featured throughout. The desert is going to look great no matter what you do to it.

I think McConaughey has the potential to become the new perfect-teeth-action-hero. He has the on-screen charisma that translated well, his relationship with co-star Steve Zahn made the movie bearable. The was no chemistry between McConaughey and Cruz at all. Their whole relationship felt forced and fake. The closing shot of the movie was a testament to how wrong the whole relationship was.

On a good note, I liked the mythology they were trying to explore. The plot also included a sub-plot, which actually became the main plot for most of the film, about the local population of Lagos falling ill to some unknown ailment. It's just a shame that all of these weren't tied together very well.

I did enjoy Sahara for it's entertainment value, but felt a little cheated that it didn't have the soul of films like Indian Jones.

The Name Game

I loved working on the show I've just finished, but one part of it drove me a little insane. Through some bizarre turn of events this show had an abnormal amount of people with the same name. I will list all the duplicate names here simply for my own amusement.

Peter, Peter, Peter, Craig, Craig, Phil, Phil, Phil, Lawrie, Laurie, Ross, Ross, Ross, Roz (which counts cause it sounds like Ross), Janet and Janette, Lucy and a character called Lucy.

As if I wasn't insane enough already.

Gravity's Great

Denzel Washington complains that the most dristracting thing to happen during a theatre performance is for a mobile phone to ring. Indeed it is. He should have the theatre run an announcement like we do telling the audience to make sure their phones are off before each performance. Which is rather amusing when you see 500 people all go for their phones at once.

The other thing the article mentions is that he only earns $1700 a week rather than the usual $20mil. Poor dear.

Left Behind

This Zap2it article will explain all about the new Joss Whedon film Serenity for those who aren't yet familiar with the series Firefly.

Super-sleuth Muzekez tells me there's a screening of Serenity in Sydney this Wendesday at 6pm. Now I just have to find out exactly where and come up with a master plan of how to get into it. Maybe a crafty disguise.

Now It's Friday

Jasper Fforde's new book, The Big Over Easy : A Nursery Crime, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. A departure from the Thursday Next series, The Big Over Easy follows Jack Spratt on his trail to find who's responsible for the murdered Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, found shattered to death beneath a wall.

Sounds like a fun book and an interesting new character.

More Music

I find it rewarding to be a recipient of the e-newsletters I subscribe to. Even though I tend to only glance over them, and delete most, it's the occassional email that keeps my patience virtuous.

Kelly at Buffy Collector, just let me know that the new soundtrack for Angel is available for preorder at amazon.com. Something to look forward to. It should be available here by the end of next year...

Extinguished

Last Sunday afternoon Seven were scheduled to air an Emmy Award winning mini-series called Fire Within. I was rather busy that weekend and had no time to watch, nor organise someone to record it. So, I resigned myself to go to Big W and buy the DVDs of the series that I've been eyeing off for some time now. Thankfully I did, because I doesn't appear to be on the air this weekend. Hopefully it will return soon.

Fire Within follows the journey of several key cast members of the touring Cirque Du Soleil show Varekai. A behind-the-scenes look at what it is really like to be involved in these amazing shows.

I'm certainly one of the people who reveres these shows, but am also one who has a better perspective than most about the struggle to actually get them up and running. Fire Within focuses mainly on the performers, but does digress into other story lines about the show, like choosing a name and finding a singer when the director hasn't given any indication of what he wants.

For a theatre person, this show is like watching a well shot home video. The struggles, the egos, the potentially show destroying mistakes. I would find it hard to not like this, and the fact that it is all about Cirque is icing on the cake.

If you're a fan of Cirque Du Soleil, this will open your eyes about how the shows are created. For those who aren't, let this be a way for you to see into a world rarely accessible to the general public.

Always Exciting

I love getting email. I certainly was surprised to find an email from Joss Whedon in my inbox. Sadly, not a personal one, but I've posted it below so all may read the news.

Hey guys.

I'm here on the official site, so that can only mean one thing: somebody finally told me my password! (Again.) It probably also means that I have some big-ass announcement or other. Well tops on the announcement list is this: after months of intensive yoga, i can finally touch my toes! (They feel round and bunion-y.)

But there's more! I'm talkin' movie news, peeps, so no more drumroll: Trailer. Serenity. Tuesday.

Yeah, kids, the haps is hap'nin', and it runs thus: EXCLUSIVELY on Apple movie trailers (and linked through this site as well of course) will be a small, medium, large or FULLSCREEN trailer for Serenity the major motion movie. Yeah, THE trailer. And the following Friday said trailer hits theaters. Which theaters? Until I get confirmation you'll have to guess, but I'm betting you can.

Now, here's a word of warning: this trailer ain't shy. If you're looking to live totally spoiler-free, know that there's plenty of key dialogue and images running through this bad boy. It's pretty tasty, though, and it doesn't give everything away. But close scrutiny will definitely learn you much of what's to come. (Anakin TOTALLY goes evil.) It's a nice piece to while away the time till September, and hopefully should intrigue th' peeps that don't have coats of brown.

The only thing more exciting than y'all finally seeing this was showing it to Nathan. Like a schoolboy giggled he.

Bye-ee!

Joss "You can't take my toes from me" Whedon.

A New Friend

I am slightly obsessed with Cirque Du Soleil. I think you'd have to be a fairly hard person not to be even slightly awed by their shows. I finally had my copy of Quidam returned last week and yesterday I sat down to revisit the show that I thoroughly enjoyed live last year. I think Quidam could possibly be my favourite touring Cirque show. There were a couple of different acts in the live show and the clowns were different as well, but having the DVD brought back the wonder I feel when watching a Cirque show. It's like being a child again, just that clear minded awe when you see something for the first time.

The real reason for this post is that Cirque have opened a new touring show call Corteo. It opens today in Montreal then goes on a North American tour. I'll have to start saving.

I'm Back and The World Still Turns

Some interesting news:
Adam Scott (The Aviator) will star opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in Focus Features' untitled supernatural thriller. It's about a Midwesterner being stalked by her ex-b.f. and haunted by nightmares of a past murder. Asif Kapadia directs the thriller, now lensing in Austin, Texas.

And some scary news:
Jay Scherick and David Ronn (Guess Who) are in talks to write the bigscreen version of Baywatch for DreamWorks. Pic is on the fast track with the hope of a 2006 summer release.

Weta Workshops (the masters behind The Lord of the Rings) have a new website. Explore the site to discover profiles of the artists, some of the work done by Weta in other films, and details on upcoming projects like King Kong and the Narnia series.

More casting rumours about The Da Vinci Code: Ian McKellen is cast as Sir Teabing, "a wealthy man who acts as a resource for Langdon even as he shows his own ambitions to uncover the Holy Grail." Alfred Molina will play Bishop Arigarosa, "who's keenly interested in the sleuthing activities of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and cryptographer Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou)."
The only people listed on imdb.com as cast are Hanks, Tautou, and Jean Reno as Captain Bezu Fache (which is excellent casting for this character), other credits include James Horner as composer.

On May 13, if you happen to be watching a film in the USA you may be one of the first people to see the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, America’s ABC will be airing a GoF special on May 7th that will feature all the footage from the trailer, but re-edited.

In Potter casting news, Robbie Coltrane may not continue as Hagrid. The new Potter family members for GoF are Ralph Fiennes who will play Lord Voldemort, Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeterk, the reporter, and Brendan Gleeson will be Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

Potter producer David Heyman reveals one of the story arcs that will not be in the fourth film is Hermione’s S.P.E.W. campaign.

I can’t believe how isolated I’ve become from all things genre the last couple of months. Fox has been airing the 6 completed episodes of Tru Calling in the USA, but has pulled the pin so that the ep that should have aired today won’t. What does that mean? That they effectively cancelled it twice! Hopefully it will appear on DVD here, as I’ve no doubt that Seven will hold off airing it until a ridiculous slot opens at 2am on Sunday.

The Chronicles of Narnia have a new website at Disney.com. It’s rather impressive, but those who have a slow net connection like me will have to be patient. The wallpapers alone are worth the wait. Now I’ve got till December to read the first couple of books.

Another site that has been revamped is War of the Worlds’. Not a lot of actual info, but the wallpapers, posters and photo gallery are cool.

Cookie Monster On A Diet!!

My world is in a spin! I finally have time to look at news and blog-land and what do I find: that the Cookie Monster is reducing the number of cookies he's going to scarf. How can it be that the leader of the chocolate cookie movement is being told that his eating habits are bad and that he shouldn't have cookies with every meal or have cookies as every meal.

I think I need a chocolate cookie.