Whew! The Adelaide Fringe 2008 was a blast! Some photos I took a couple of months ago - I was walking past, along the way to my own dinner when I noticed there was a kerfuffle at the opposite restaurant. Another Fringe event - “Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience”, produced by Interactive Theatre Australia. Basically you have a ?3 course meal and the actors play pranks and do fawlty towers type shenanigans all around you. A friend of mine went and got dentures in her pea soup. The actors do bear quite a good resemblance to John Clees, Sybil and Manuel I suppose.

Rather, rather, interesting.

traveling, with you
traveling, on board
lighting up the asphalt
traveling, to where
traveling, are we heading to?
anywhere is okay, as long as it’s far away

traveling, sway
traveling, more
the urge to break it
traveling, accelerate
traveling, more
although there’s no need to hurry

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

there’s a song I want you to listen to
so I put it on REPEAT
spurs on my feeling
just as planned
partying with the waves, inviting the clouds
I finally met you
but being young, I glance away
like the dust in the wind

traveling, with you
traveling, on board
lighting up the asphalt
traveling, where
traveling, are you?
now’s the best time
traveling, sway
traveling, more
the urge to break it
traveling, accelerate
traveling, more
I’m a little afraid to stop now
traveling…

- Utada Hikaru, “Travelling”
(Lyrics translation courtesy of Anime Lyrics)

Cat humiliation - Hello Kitty hats

Some guy got a BSOD tatto ??!!

Some school kids have it really bad - rickety-looking rope and pulley system over raging river o.O

Pizza in Japan - Eeew…

Oh, and by the way?

Bag count:
6 LVs
2 Pradas
1 Ferragamo
2 Juicy Coutures

1 Fake Fendi Spy offered for sale.

A couple of weeks…okay, months, ago (I was slack), I was moseying around Rundle Mall in Adelaide on my last Friday night in Adelaide. Which turned out to not quite be my last Friday night there, actually, but oh well.

Anyway under the Gawler Place canopy there were a couple of dweeby white hiphop wannabe guys huddled around a boombox blasting out old school hip hop music, bopping their heads, working up the courage to do some break dancing I suppose. I did see one of them do some half-assed moves but then he quickly stopped and they went back to head-bopping. I did hang around for a bit to see if they would do any more but it was obviously taking them too long to work up the guts to do anything. I came back about half an hour later and happily they were finally doing quite a bit of dancing and surrounded by a crows, to boot!

There was now a group of Africans and Asians too. The Asians were mostly Koreans I think and some Vietnamese. Must have been overseas students; and the Africans were probably part of the large intake of Somalian refugees Adelaide received recently. Something like that. Well all probably recent Australian residents at any rate.

And a member of each group would take it in turns to have a brief stint in the centre of the circle. It was sort of challenge-y, but like a muuuuuuuch lamer version of Run DMC v Jason Nevins’ “It’s like that” (Aaahhh…old skool hiphop. Sure does bring back memories.) At one point one of the African boys knocked the beanie off of a whiteboy and I got excited because I thought there would be something exciting to see at last, but then everyone got disgustingly placatory.

Oh well, the dancing wasn’t great but watching the crowd/group dynamic was interesting. And even though the groups didn’t have a shared language, they managed to communicate alright through body language. The common language dawg, o’ hiphop brutha! Yo!

Yeah.
(>_>)
(<_<)

By a happy coincidence I was in town on the day of the book launch. I got to town at around 11am and there was still a bit of a queue, but not many real die hards - didn’t see many in full Potter regalia - although there was a disproportionate number of people in long black cloak-like jackets. I assume they were there by 9 and have gone back home to read XD

I did see some teenage girls dressed in Slytherin, er…the red and yellow house robes. I’m assuming red= Ravenclaw and yellow= Gryffindor? Er. What colour was Hufflepuff? The costumes were pretty good although too bad I didn’t have a chance to photograph them. I did get to photograph 2 cute kids - one cosplaying Harry Potter and the other in what I’m assuming are Quidditch robes.

If you’re going to dress up like that I have the right to stare and photograph…

I was initially going to mosey around, go to tourist sites and just take photos today, but when I walked through Myers I spotted a huge rack of HP 7 books in the middle of the ground floor cosmetics section (for impulse purchasers). Tell me why people are lining up to get their preorders again? Hmm. So, on impulse I stopped by there for a bit over an hour. I got asked if I needed assistance by 2 salesman and finally a woman approached…

“Are you enjoying the book? Are you thinking of purchasing it?”
“Oh…I think I might”
“Well I can’t let you read it for free, come this way”
“Ah….maybe later”
-makes quick exit-

At that point I was up to page 109 (I read slow >_< Hey I was savouring the book!) So I nicked off to Target where stacks of books were lying about too. I knew the staff at Target were less motivated to make sales so I snuck into a more inconspicuos corner and continued… I had to leave when I was up to page 189 though.

Well I could buy the book but a) I don’t have room for it (I don’t even buy CDs now. Moving waaay too many times does that to you) b) I’m rather broke c) I cannot abide incomplete series. Having #7 and not #1-6? Pffft.

Impression so far? Oh…okay I guess. I want to see what happens next even though I’ve seen spoilers (don’t know if they are fake or not). Potter is not as angsty as in the last book. Or was it second-last book? The one where Sirius dies. Although I have read all the books and rather like the series cause it’s a good yarn, I’m not a mega fan + memory of goldfish = would have helped if there was more of an introduction or memory refresher. Hey if I’m struggling how about people who only read #7? I guess Rowling assumes everyone has read the books, and those who haven’t wouldn’t bother with #7…

I want the Wii Fit >_<
The only console I’d ever buy is the Wii and only for the untraditional console games (Wii Sports and er…the other one. With the neon hockey and the fishing game) ._.
It’s also a great to have at a party…

Maaan.
Talk about gullibility.

Leave me inside here with or with you
This is the place I belong to
Tell me in secret what should I do
Tell me you need me with you

- ‘Inside’ by Monkey Majik from the eastview album.

I met Julian Morrow from the Chaser!! Saw him at the new food court in Chinatown in Adelaide’s Central Market. He was in town for the Festival of Ideas. I don’t watch it religiously (extremely dislike having when I watch tv dictated by the tv station) however I have watched some eps. So actually I didn’t recognise the guy till my niece spotted him and brought it to my attention (she’s a Chaser fan). He was very nice and thanked us for our support (er…whut me? Not really at the time >_<). But just cause he's so nice I'll go and watch all the Chaser I can get my hands on on yt!!

The Chaser’s War on Everything is an Australian comedy show put together by this bunch of guys and includes skits, parodies and pranks. They are really quite funny and the humour is oftentimes smart and intelligent (especially the political ones - fav!).

There’s lots of Chaser clips on yt - the ABC doesn’t mind people uploading clips (how cool is that!) and they also have eps/vodcasts available for download from the official ABC site. Aaaah…public broadcasting~~

I can’t resist including some clips dissing United Statians:

Simple concept, but I laughed so much XD

- via Gizmodo

Movies I intend to watch (maybe if I type them out I’ll remember them next time I’m near a DVD sale (I don’t believe in DVD hire…Although I really should rethink that - don’t want to waste space on storing DVDs either.)

1. History Boys
2. Shaun of the Dead
3. Welcome to Dongmakgol

Considering buying My Neighbour Totoro for old times’ sake.

I need to watch Heroes Season 2…. >_>
Ray if you don’t bring it with you when you come to Melbourne I’ll leave you at the airport. No, I’ll *pretend* to pick you up, wait till you load up ALL your bags, then drive off!! :@

Speaking of space wastage, I really can’t figure out why my belongings take up so much space. I’m a simple person (no, really!) So why do I end up with so much crap? I suppose little things add up to a lot. I shouldgo through my stuff and see what I can get rid of them. After I get my sushi cushion prototypes down pat I’ll be mailing them off RIGHT AWAY. They take up so much space >.<

We went to a showhouse built in approximately the same design as the house we're about to build. My room is tinier than I thought >.> My built-in wardrobe is also tiny >.< Which makes getting rid of stuff much more important...

One side benefit of doing all that camera research, even though I decided not to get the Nikon D40 (...yet) is that I'm now technically better able to handle the Sony DSC V3 (thanks Ken Rockwell!). Sorting out my China photos to ready them for uploading/blogging has also made me realise how CRAP my photos in the past were. Composition etcetc is so important. I took bazillions of photos but there were verrrrrry little of good quality. One thing Sushicam taught me is quality, not quantity. Why take so many photos that just end up sitting on your HDD taking up space? Might as well take the time to think about and compose shots properly (I am such a little point-and-shooter). And then when you finally get the photo to your comp, why be afraid/lazy of doing a bit of post-production processing? That’s why Jamie’s photos turn out awesome. Cropping, colour enhancement, maybe a nice rounded border.

I’m too lazy to use PS so I use Google’s Picasa which is so n00b friendly. I love it ^_^.

I first heard the following off the radio in Adelaide on the way to te airport. When I got back to Melbourne I googled it and copied and pasted it off here.

It’s actually one of those emailed things that go round and round. Snopes says that it’s been around since at least 2000 and has since been adapted for Canada and South Africa. Although I do think the one for Australia is the original (the humour fits better). It’s linked to countries hosting the Olympics.

It actually got posted as the faq for the Asian Patent Attorneys Association 54th Council Meeting (2007) in Adelaide!! Ok it did have appropriate responses in brackets but still. Actually being used in an official capacity now huh?

The questions below about Australia, are from potential visitors. They are reputed to have been posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are supposedly the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a sense of humour.

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK).
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)
A: So it’s true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not… oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys’ Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is…oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia? ( UK)
A: You are a British politician, right?

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It’s a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)
A: It’s called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Do you have perfume in Australia? (France)
A: No, WE don’t stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.

Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you’ll have to learn it first.

I first heard of them while channel surfing at hall in HK (2005…wow that was a long time ago). Unfortunately caught the last bits only and missed out on the artist/title of song. Sometime later I did come across them again. I wanted to blog about it then but no vids on youtube at the time.

I’ve been a huge yt music binge today though.

Long, boring story ahead:

This girl subscribed to my yt feed…I had a look at her profile and saw some cool vids she favourited, some of which were Vanilla Mood [doesn't Keiko, the pianist, look anorexic? Srsly.] and Joe Hisaishi performances … one of which was a video response to video by this kid Ben who is a pretty awesome piano player for his age. Through that I also came across piya who plays some awesome Joe Hisaishi on piano too.

At the same time through the clicknetwork (AKA Rozz and Xiaxue’s Girls Out Loud II) I was introduced to the horrors of the teriyakiboyz’ Tokyo Drift (Fast and Furious). It’s the massively annoying but undeniably catchy theme song of FnF3. Can’t find the actual MV (copyright issues?) but found lots of fan music videos using the song and clips from FnF3. Now I want to watch the movie. Fast cars, hot girls. What more could one want?

Anyway, back to Yoshida Kyoudai. My fav part of the performance is about 1:25-1:43 when all the background music stops and it’s just shamisens+percussian. Sooooo gooood.

P.S. here’s the actual MV of ‘Rising’:

Start: EST 16:50.
Challenge: print off, certify and post a statutory declaration so it gets to Adelaide by Tuesday. Not to mention how to do all of the preceding and find the locations of all relevant places…and the fact I had no map and had zero familiarity with Melbourne CBD. Bonus: find the gold express post box!!

Highlights: finding out that Melbournites are quite accomodating when “WHERE’S THE NEAREST POLICE STATION?” is screamed into their faces, being sent on a wild goose chase by shop staff who just want to get rid of the asian lunatic begging to use their computers/printers, getting ripped off by the Indian convenience store owner to use his computers/printer, sprinting all around Melbourne and nearly chucking my guts out onto the pavement.

Didn’t manage to make it in time before the main post office closed at 5:30, but then realised (saw express post advertisement in the window of this little store run by a Korean dude who was nice but refused to let me use his computer/printer - “it’s inconvenient”, he said with a little smile which is asianspeak for “you’re crazy, please get out of my shop”) could still post by using the gold express post boxes - deadline 6pm. Thus….30mins to do all of the above!!!

Managed to post at 6:04. Hung around waiting for post office van to make sure I wasn’t late. Mail collected: 6:14.

…and after all that, I still don’t feel safe. I mean I didn’t even get to check the stat dec/certification before I chucked it in the box. Plus the police seem to certify just anything - he didn’t even ask me for photo ID… probably because he saw I was desperate?

So…I’m flying back to Adelaide this Sunday early morning 6:30 (cheapest flight …$50! woohoo~).

================

The stat dec is a document I have to lodge with the Legal Practitioner’s Board, or something, in Adelaide by Tuesday. Had posted it on time before but there was a very MINOR mistake that I made due to a technicality I didn’t know about.

Since I’m not confident that the one I mailed in a rush yesterday night was 100% correct, I’m flying down to lodge a 100% certainly correct one, and if that is not correct at least I’ll be in Adelaide to wash, rinse, repeat.

I am a courier, hear me roar.

=====
UPDATE: Forgot to mention that my mobile with net access was invaluable. No one seemed to know with any certainty where it was, and they’d point off vaguely in any direction. Yesterday was wild goose chase day, I tell you! Then I remembered I had net access! I have a SE K800i (3G) and together with the Opera mini browser I could quickly find the website of the Victorian police and lookup the addresses of police stations in the city. I heart web access on my SE, I heart Opera mini!

James Boag seems to be a winner with their ad company. They’ve stopped showing the pilot ad for some time and have swapped it for this Italian James Bond (sort of) themed one called “Waiters”. You can watch the long version of the video here.

The TV short version goes a bit like this:
It opens on the scene of a large Italian party (dress code: black tie) with fully gussied up waiters. It’s shot in black and white. It’s like a classier black and white version of the the Ferrero Rocher Ambassador ad (handing out the little golden balls…). The only colour in the ad are the green bottles of James Boag beer [looks greener on tv than the website version] the waiters are running around with.The background music is minimalist drum and bass track overlaid with a striking Italian female vocal (opera style? I suck at genres).

A *smouldering* (Jamie: hehe) Italian chick is watching the action from a piazza on the second level and she catches the eye of this guy on the ground floor. She notices a security camera and arches her brow, signalling its presence to the guy. He takes a bottle of James Boag from the waiter. A mafioso notices the guy and throws a tantrum. A bunch of mafiosos watching the party from security cams in another room spot the guy and get all alarmed/excited. The female vocals get more frantic as they rush out down the stairs to the ground level to catch the guy that was spotted by the smouldering chick (who actually on further inspection looks a bit like a tranny to me), who whispers in the ear of an old waiter. The mafiosos approach a guy holding a bottle of James Boag from behind and lay hands on him. The vox reach a crescendo as they turn him around, then the vox drops right down when they realise it’s the wrong guy.

The text “Who Is James Boag?” then appears in white serif-style font on a plain black background.

Apparently, according to the press release, this is the fourth in the series of “Who is James Boag?” ads. Apparently the question has featured prominently in James Boag advertising for 12 years since 1995 (huh, so the pilot one must have been an exception).

Press release again:

More than 30 lead characters, 150 extras and 70 staff were involved in the production of Waiters

…

The commercial concept was developed by George Patterson Y&R in Melbourne, and was produced by Exit Films. Waiters was directed by Mark Molloy [Ooo. Wonder if he's related to comedian Mick Molloy], with director of photography, Greig Fraser, now currently involved in the filming of Baz Luhrmann’s new epic, “Australian”. Karl Richter created the compelling original score that features throughout the commercial.

I didn’t really like it initially because it just doesn’t feel very aussie, for an aussie beer. It’s too slick…I mean for goodness sakes it’s all Italian-y. I guess they are trying to market the beer as a product that will appeal to the well-heeled type; the international man of mystery type. Harrumph. Oooo. Looks like I was right - Mr Lyndon Adams, J.Boag & Son Director of Sales and Marketing states in the press release that:

…the “Who is James Boag?” campaign has been a major factor in the success of the brand, because it has reinforced the unique brand values of style, sophistication and intrigue.

He goes on to say:

“We’ve left nothing to chance in producing this commercial, and the result is something we believe truly reflects the premium positioning of our brand”

Fusion chigai-dana

I went down to the Art Gallery today to see a visiting collection of Egyptian artefacts on loan from the Louvre. The exhibition was entitled “Egyptian Antiquities from the Louvre: Journey to the Afterlife”

Admission fees are $18 for adult, $10 student. I’m still a student till the end of May so I get the discount, yay

It concentrated more on the artwork (obviously), and as I’m more interested in the gruesome aspects of mummification (did you know they pulled the brain out through the nostril with a piece of wire? I mean, how much can you get out at a time?! There must be an almighty mess. Would there be much leftover in the skull? How would you know when it was “clean”?) it didn’t appeal to me as much. It was worth my $10 student fare though. I read each and every placard to get my money’s worth! -extremely knowledgeable in egyptian death art now-*

Apologies, no photos. There were too many people/security guards milling about.

I had a quick look around the other exhibits too but didn’t want to get too drawn in because I’d end up reading all the signs!** Even though I’d be bored out of my brain I would still end up spending the whole day there.

I went round to the Asian gallery too. It’s actually really tiny and has NO Chinese stuff! Aww come on. Chinese art and culture basically influenced whole region! You could at least have some token painting or something…

About half of the exhibits were Japanese artefacts*** and the other half were south east asian in origin (Cambodia, Thailand, etc -not interested-). There is probably a disproportionate amount of Japanese stuff because well… people (and one of them is Sir Samuel Way - after whom the District Court building is named after o.o) donated Japanese stuff.

Well anyway! The most interesting exhibit of the day for me was this huge screen painting entitled something to the effect of ‘Scenes of Kyoto’. It’s made up of two screens - east Kyoto/right screen and west Kyoto/left screen. Each screen is made up of like 4 panels. It’s from the Edo era and has shops, some temples (Kiyomizu, Tenryuji), the Gion temple district shops and people going about their daily life.

Picnic set

A wide cross section of people are depicted too including nobles, peasants, shopkeepers, samurai. It probably aims to show one the splendour of the new imperial capital (IIRC, the placard said that the screen was painted not long after the imperial capital was moved to Kyoto - from Nagoya I’m assuming). Personally I think the idea is a bit of a ripoff/ “heavily influenced by”^ the 16m long Qingming Shanghe Tu (Spring Festival on the River).

The Chinese one had way more detail . It didn’t have half its canvas covered in bleeding gold-leaf clouds that’s for sure! Yup, the Kyoto one had half the screens covered in clouds. What a cop out. It’s like the artist discovered it was going to be a monumental task painting the whole screen so he filled it with clouds. But I suppose it will never be in the same league as the Chinese one (which is a legendary masterpiece) cause it was a low-cost painting or something I guess.

Anyway I still like it cause it was fun to look at (maybe spent 5 mins looking at all the figures and stuff). No photo because there was a security guard keeping an eye on me at that point.

Another favourite was the picnic set. It’s so cute! You can imagine eating out of that under the Sakura. The sides of of the holder thing that holds all the bento boxesactually have carved holes. I assume it’s so you can thread string around the boxes and through the holes to keep the wine jar/boxes in place. I want one ._.

The other photo is of a fusion chigai-dana. It was constructed in the Meiji era, when there was demand for Japanoiserie by Westerners. The motifs and details are Japanese, however the way it is constructed…as in like… in the macro sense? …are Western. Like you wouldn’t generally get a chigai-dana that is constructed in that way. It’s all a bit busy - google chigai-dana and compare.

* Haha, not really.
** This is probably related to my habit of reading magazines from cover to cover, systematically starting from page 1. I get obssessive compulsive about things like this.
*** Such as katana guards, Kannon sculptures, bits of pottery, etc. I was hoping for proper paintings but save for the screen as decribed above and a handful of kabuki prints, no go.
^ Well okay I’ve seen a couple of Japanese paintings which depict a large town area and include lots of people doing stuff. I think there was one of Yoshiwara (old Edo pleasure quarters) where people were, indeed, doing *a lot* of stuff (the building roofs were not painted in…). And that isn’t exactly the same as painting a realistic aerial view of a metropolis.

Synopsis for movie:

Australian small-town cop Gary enjoys his nearly pastoral existence, with traffic violations providing the major excitement to his normally low-key days. While not at work Gary spends a good deal of time fantasising about local news reporter Julia, who would just as soon relocate to the thriving metropolis of Sydney. Then a motorcyclist is found decapitated and a construction worker, a sailor, a cowboy and an Indian soon meet the same fate. With some murderous weirdo with a Village People fixation terrorising the town Gary, with the help of bigwig city detective Tony Charles, begins to realise that a policeman is the last remaining victim to be murdered for the killings to be complete.

This is a review from TrevorAclea, from IMDB:

“Okay, let’s take a vote. Who thinks he’s not being sarcastic and I AM the smartest guy in the world?” You Can’t Stop the Murders never got released outside Australia, which is a great pity since it’s one of the funniest comedies in years, and has a killer premise. West Village is a small Australian town that barely registers a heartbeat, where the postman never has any mail, the main source of revenue is a badly signposted 10-metre long speed trap, the two local and almost identically named biker gangs (the Vandillas and the Vandillos) keep on getting each others’ gas bills and local lovelorn prematurely balding cop Gary dreams of the local TV news reporter (biggest scoop: the butcher’s premium mincemeat is just regular mincemeat) while practising for the line dancing championship. And then the murders start as someone targets West Village’s people – a biker, a construction worker, a sailor, a cowboy, an Indian, all left with their decapitated bodies spelling out the letters Y, M, C…. When the most obvious suspect (well, the only one in town apart from the mum of one of the cops who has a really big knife) comes up with an alibi, in comes a trigger-happy, media-friendly egomaniacal big-city cop to steal the local boy’s thunder and, of course, the girl of his dreams.

At once surprisingly gentle and wildly funny, it’s a great character comedy with a likable unknown ensemble cast of eccentrics, the cops worst among them – the hero’s sidekick is constantly coming up with inane ideas for movies (such as The Adventures of Dead Dog or an intellectual sperm that becomes a media celebrity to the chagrin of it’s moronic host: “It’s a tragedy”) while the excessively devout chief of police suspects Satan (”the real one”) and has his own odd ideas on going undercover. But beyond an endless stream of great gags, it’s also genuinely fond of its characters, which just adds to the likability. In fact, despite the premise, it’s almost reminiscent of Tati’s Jour de Fete in its affectionate tone, and does indeed include a disastrously unattended ‘Funfest’ day. Unfussily directed by Anthony Mir, who also co-wrote with co-stars Gary Eck and Akmal Saleh, it may be hard to find, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Watch out for the Love Panda, though.

My goodness. I only happened to catch this movie on SBS today (one of those late night flicks). Turns out it’s actually an aussie production. This is an awesome, awesome, movie. I looooove the way it is shot. It is very tongue in cheek, very satirical, and so, so, aussie. I love it!

Actually maybe the experience was heightened for me because the scenes and characters felt so familiar. It feels very homemade which is very charming in its own way. It gets gay, but in a very good way XD

There were some other local aussie comedians who made cameos too, such as the Sandman and the Umbilical Brothers.

The movie was directed by Anthony Mir and written by Gary Eck, Anthony Mir and Akmal Saleh…who are like the 3 main actors in the film too XD
Another thing I noticed is that it looks as if they couldn’t be bothered trying to think up character names. For example:

Gary Eck … Constable Gary Raymond
Akmal Saleh … Constable Akmal
Richard Carter … Chief Carter
Shane Dundas … Shane

I did wish some characters were given a bit more character development (like the Work Experience Girl), but I guess it’s not that type of film.

If I find this DVD I’d SO buy it!

I am really enjoying Australian-produced TV, and particularly stuff on SBS and ABC lately. Chaser’s War on Everything and the Sideshow come to mind. It’s been so long since I’ve *actually* LOL’d at something on tv.

Imagine watching a new play by Shakespeare
Imagine finding a new invention by Da Vinci
Imagine reading a new novel by Hemingway
Imagine looking at a new painting by Van Gogh
Imagine Columbus discovering a new continent
Imagine driving the new BMW X5

Every movement has its icon.

Regarding that BMW “Masterpiece” ad I blogged about a couple of days ago here:

After some intense googling, I found the ad. Sort of. The clip, posted by Russian user V431, has other scenes I haven’t seen on tv (the Da Vinci, Columbus thing).

Just a few notes:
1. Love the old man with shakey hands in the Da Vinci scene.
2. If there was a “which one of these is not the same” I’d pick the Columbus scene (if you don’t count the BMW scene which is clearly different)
3. I really like how the techno music sort of grinds down when the BMW is introduced.
4. I think the wording for the Van Gogh painting on Aussie tv is nicer.
5. Where’s the multiple hair-pin bend scene!!? It was so pretty!! Only the bridge bit was slightly awesome. The rest is standard car commercial stuff.
6. I think “Imagine driving a new masterpiece by BMW” sounds so much grander, and ties in with the rest of the ad better.

Conclusion: the ad they generally show on Australian tv is teh awesomest.

By the way my blog stats have gone off the radar (comparatively) just because of the BMW ad. A number of aussies really like it too o_o

I’ve been receiving more hits from people googling maine coon cats though -_-
I write a long serious discussion on ANZAC day and no one is interested. I post up a photo of a huge cat I find on the net and now I’m worried that Dan’s going to kill me. Geh.

Oh, and for the record, the name of the song on the BMW ad is E70 TVC - “Every movement has its icon”, by Michael Meinl (Publishing company: Mint Songs) and Mathias Neuhauser (Publishing company: Broonsongs).

According to to Youtube user V431, it was a song especially composed for BMW and can’t generally be found.

I think I’ll still call up BMW and bug them about the ad…see if I can get a copy of it to upload to youtube? In my dreams…

-goes back to watching the ad again and again-

P.S. no matter how much I love the ad I wouldn’t buy a 4WD BMW.

1. 4WDs are bad for the environment. Take public transport, or buy a SMART car, you gas guzzler!!
2. It absolutely defeats the purpose of buying a beemer. If you want the prestige associated with a beemer, don’t get a vehicle that isn’t in the shape of a prestige car.
3. SUVs are for soccer moms.
4. It’s crappy as a 4WD. If you buy a 4WD I assume you’re taking it offroad (now if you’re not taking it off road you’re a soccer mom/gas guzzler/poseur) and I have been informed it’s rather crappy as a true 4WD. Get a troopy.

Anyway there have been a couple of ads that have caught my eye (or rather ears) recently.
Normally I like the funny witty ones, but my current faves are nothing like that. Unfortunately I can’t find any of these ads online (2 out of the 3 are advertising Australian products), so none of you overseas or non-tv watchers will understand the joy I derive from these ads XD

So here are the top 3 in order of preference:

1. BMW X5 - “Masterpiece”

Imagine watching a new play by Shakespeare
Imagine viewing a new painting by Van Gogh
Imagine reading a new novel by Hemingway
Imagine driving a new masterpiece by BMW

LOVE, LOVE the music. It fit SO well with the video!
And the idea of watching/reading new stuff from long-dead artists just sends shivers (in a good way) down my back.
To be honest I was a bit disappoointed when I found out they were only advertising BMW. I couldn’t relate my feelings from the first part of the ad to the car. I mean pfft, it’s just a car, it can never compare to Shakespeare or Hemingway.

I thought the human reaction from the painting one was the best. The ad focuses on a handful of people. One of them is a jaded looking middle-aged man whose expression changes from indifference to shock and awe when he digests the painting. It is awesome. XD Pity they don’t seem to show the painting scene much now?

The last scene at the end with the X5 driving down multiple hairpin bends somewhere in Europe with like a Chateau and vineyards in the background looked real pretty though.

Anyway, yeah it’s my favourite ad at the moment purely because of the first bit.

I like it so much dangnabbit, I’m going to phone up the BMW office tomorrow and ask them what the ad company is/what the music is!!!!!!

UPDATE: Found the title of the track and a video of the ad on youtube. See my update post here.

2. James Boag’s Premium Lager “Chivalry”

You could give up your window seat for her,
Or you could spend your next 5 years studying to be a pilot;
And the next time you see her you could invite her up to the cockpit to enjoy the view.

*Because Chivalry Is Back*

…or something like that.
sounds very ordinary right?
but the combination of the jingle and old-time pilot outfit right at the end…
It’s so…well, it gets me.
It’s so well done, in a very… can’t-put-my-finger-on-it sort of way.

I thought I was going mad at first but since Ray feels the same way about the ad…

James Boag is a boutique brewer from Tasmania. Not a beer drinker myself but I’d definitely be buying that beer now if I was. Yay for vapid consumerism!

3. Rosemount Estate Shiraz “A diamond worth discovering”

Well done, but nothing too exceptional, ad about wines.
Music is fantastic though.
Saxaphone with a bass underlay.

Rosemount Estates owns vineyards in the Hunter Valley NSW and Mclaren Vale SA.

This guy was bored so he did 3 days of filming not to mentioned umpteen hours of planning and special effects editing, I’m sure. All becase he was procrastinating.

Not bad for an amateur.

Thanks for the link Ray!