Heard the Band Aid 20 version of this song recently (how crap does it sound?) and, being in Katherine at the time, remembered that we actually bought the original on VINYL (what's that, you ask?) so of course it comes with this glorious CD Cover.... er... I mean LP cover. It's only just ticked over into Christmas and, oops, I'm still up. Spare a thought for "the other ones", because "thank God it's them instead of you..." hmm...

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What you didn't know is that Disney also produces children's horror flicks. Like this one...

Terrible, isn't it? December has barely started and I'm already on holidays. Yay! Even so, my "to do" list is preventing me from feeling like I have time to relax. There are things to do that I had put off, y'know, the fun stuff like my tax return. And there's still the seasonal pressure of present-buying, which is GREAT when you're as indecisive as I am.

I also have to find time to jump out of a plane!!! courtesy of JPB in honour of my new-found thirty-ness; a strange choice of present because, now that I'm officially over the hill, it's not like I need to go any faster on the downward spiral of life.

Anyway, so far the start of the holidays has been pretty eventful. It began with a punk-themed Christmas party that I feel like I've only just recovered from. On Monday BO-A showed me a video she filmed on her phone of the party and I honestly cannot remember that happening but the evidence is clear. The only downer was at three in the morning the cunting Stonewall door bitches were enforcing their straight girl quota policy thinly disguised as an anti-"open-toed-shoe" policy which meant one of my dear friends that I had been having such a good time with went home early. Nevertheless, the night up 'til that point was awesome.

Also went to see Branch Nebula's Paradise City, which was a terrific mash of performance skills. A skater, a break-dancer, a BMX rider, an acrobat, a dancer and a fallen diva... facing each other off (as you would do on the street, y'know...) and it was great to see them at times taking on each other's qualities in their own way. Worth seeing. That as well as Emio Greco | PC on the Friday, not to mention James Bond on Monday, and I'm having a pretty good serve of culture... Sure makes doing an end-of-year Top 5 list of performing arts events even harder (what did I see this year again???)

Anyway, I'm rambling. Sorry about the post going nowhere...

Technorati Tags: Holiday, Party, Stonewall, Branch Nebula, Paradise City, Theatre, lists

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Created by my friend anton an co. The footage originally comes from Einselganger, a dance film presented as part of ReelDance's Take 12 and screened most recently at CineMoves.

Managed to score a couple of tickets to tonight's premiere of Casino Royale at the State Theatre. Woo hoo! I got to flash my magic pass and walk down the red carpet with DB. None of the photographers bothered to take a picture of us, despite me positively glowing from my morning facial and DB looking stunning in her slinky black dress. Oh well... Bondy was rather late, which wasn't very surprising - Sydney traffic is crap and Market Street was reduced to a slow crawl. But we did get to see his arrival (luckily I know all the right people!) despite the ushers shepherding everyone into the theatre so that he wouldn't have to deal with us plebs.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The movie was pretty good and Daniel Craig really is hot as James Bond. The incredible first action scene had JB running after scarface monkey-man as he effortlessly jumped up and over a construction site. Even the mid-movie card game kept us on the edge. You get to see alot of Sony products in the movie, by the way, not to mention a Ford car (before JB develops a penchant for Aston Martin) and JB falling in love, of all things. If anything, it's slightly too long but still pretty exciting.

Tags: James Bond, Casino Royale, The State Theatre.

Wow am I excited! Anyone having difficultly coming up with a decent Christmas present for me (or possibly a belated birthday gift) could do much worse than this...

Technorati Tags: Commodore, 64, Book, Computer

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Post Corporate Gig for Bangarra sponsors Qantas and Jhuny is well on the way to getting very drunk. Scene of the crime: Stonewall. Twelve o'clock and Jhuny "The Boy" had just turned thirty. Whoop 'de do! I have no idea when I got home but I think it was a very civilised half-past-two.

What wasn't civilised was the hangover. Didn't get to work until twelve OOPS! which, for us, is about the beginning of rehearsals. It wasn't until the end of the day, after sweating and jumping around in lines and around the room, that I started to get over the hangover. Which was the perfect time to start drinking again. JPB took me out to dinner, we went out with some friends to the Cricketers for more drinks before coming home to get even more inebriated, finally falling into bed at seven in the morning. The dawn was beautiful.

Welcome to my thirties!!! It's been wonderful so far. The day after was the Cinemoves screening at Sydney Dance Company. It's pretty safe to say that none of you went. The few people that did attend had the pleasure of enjoying a brilliant program of Australian dance films. Lots of leftover food and wine. Went home and was still exhausted from the previous night that I was asleep before twelve.

But Sunday was lovely. Went to a very late brunch with a friend and her man, dropped by the Lord Roberts for a late afternoon bevvy before settling in to see an Irishman become Australian Idol. Lots of talent in the Final 12 but didn't they find it hard to all sing together? Never to be minding.

Technorati Tags: Jhuny, Thirty, drinks, Sydney, Cinemoves, Dance, Festival, Australian Idol

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(if you're not doing anything this Saturday...)

Sydney Dance Company and ReelDance present

ReelDance: Take 12 @ CINEMOVES

Curated by Narelle Benjamin and Erin Brannigan.

Entry is by donation ($5)

Sat 25 November 2006 @ 6:30pm
SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY STUDIOS
Pier 4, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay

For further information contact Erin Brannigan: erin@redrocket.com.au

Straight from Electrofringe in Newcastle and Dance Your Socks Off! In Wellington (NZ), ReelDance: Take 12 will be presented at CINEMOVES before continuing on to Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. This program of dance shorts includes work by young and emerging filmmakers from Australia and New Zealand and features artists from Australian Dance Theatre (Adelaide) and the independent dance scenes in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand. There’s kids on monkey bars, a guy caught in a girl’s woolen web, a mock hip hop clip, a very quick trip around the world and a quirky step-by-step guide to dance.

Filmmakers Rosetta Cook (visiting from Brisbane), Samuel James, Julie-Anne Long, Jason Lam and Anton will be at the screening to answer questions and discuss their work.

CINEMOVES is an ongoing series of forums dedicated to the exhibition and discussion of dance and movement on film. Launched in 2004 and presented by Sydney Dance Company and ReelDance, CINEMOVES celebrates dance filmmaking, providing a relaxed and informal atmosphere in which to view films and engage in discussion with filmmakers and choreographers.
There will be complimentary drinks and snacks and plenty of time for conversation about the program with the artists. It’s our last CINEMOVES for 2006 so it would be great to have a celebratory drink with you all.

Technorati Tags: Cinemoves, dance, dancefilm, sydney, reeldance

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The Prestige
SPOILER ALERT!!!

It seems that someone has a strange obsession with strangely obsessive people, generally the sort that become obsessed through the loss of a loved one, and I'm not naming names, Mr Nolan... But that's okay 'cos I really do l do love your work, especially Memento and now this movie.

This is such an intriguing movie. In a way the ending was quite disappointing in that, had you taken Cutter's initial advice to watch closely ("for you will be rewarded") you can pretty much work out how Angiers and Borden manage to create their illusions. But it's only disappointing in the way that a rollercoaster, with its many twists and turns, resolves itself in the end. It keeps your mind thinking, assessing how previous events fit in when it starts to become obvious that, say, Bordern is actually a twin, each living the one life. More interesting is the ongoing theme of duality, the get-your-hands-dirty magician versus the clean and classy showman, the similar rivalry between Edison and Tesla with their opposing methods of electricity transmissions (Edison's bully tactics to further his technology of direct current is almost as awful as what the magicians do to each other...), the competition between science and magic for audience attention, the rubber ball versus the top hat...

But even beyond that is the tale of two men that become increasingly obsessed by their rivalry. While one man's story is explained by relatively ordinary means (though to have one of the twins cut off their fingers to maintain their illusion is pretty startling), it is even more amazing to find that Angiers resorts to the wholly extraordinary to create his most amazing illusion. Even if you accept the possibility of using electricity to create exact duplicates of yourself, to bring yourself to killing yourself night after night is about as crazily obsessed as you can possibly get. It's still spooky for me to think about it, not to mention the mind-fuck of trying to work out which, if any, is indeed the *real* Angiers. Is he in the box or taking the applause?

Much more exciting than your typical magic show. And so very spooky.

Technorati Tags: The prestige, movie, Christopher Nolan, magic, obsession, rivarly.

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Kylie Minogue - Showgirl - The Homecoming Tour

For some reason I had expected Kylie to have a support act. She did the last time I saw her. Who doesn't have a support act? Well as it turned out, this time around, Kylie. Oops. Lucky for me she was running late. After making us wait eighteen months, what's another half an hour. Thank God! I entered the arena just after the lights had dimmed and the familiar Showgirl prelude began to play. By the time she was half way through the first verse I had found my seat, which I didn't need anyway because we were all standing and cheering. Wow, it felt so special, to be there for Kylie's return from illness. I don't think she's ever sounded better live and, with a few extra curves post-illness, she looked hot.

Highlights:
- Especially For You. What was originally a clever way to address the lack of a Jason, this was the one where, for an encore, she does karaoke style with the audience performing Jason's lines. Normally this isn't one of my favourite Kylie songs, it's just a little too inane, but up until this point Kylie had held it together to deliver a pretty good performance only to see her being overwhelmed by her emotions. It didn't matter, the audience sang the song for her. And strangely the song had taken another level of significance, Kylie had been in our hearts for all that time and our love never changed. It sounds overly sentimental, yes, but rarely has it ever been as real as this.
- Dreams. And this is what she did for the last eighteen months. Kept believing in dreams. Spine-tingling and haunting.

Not to mention the spinning birthday cake of I Believe In You, the fabulously golden Shocked megamix, and the Princess referencing the Queen of Pop during Burning Up.

Fantastic show. I want to go again!!!

Technorati Tags: Kylie Minogue, Showgirl, The Homecoming Tour, Pop, Concert

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