GritFX Magazine - Movies, Music and Madness!

Zombie vs Zombie Tee Giveaway

2010-10-02T12:54:00.002+10:00

It’s Tee Giveaway time and with Halloween right around the corner, what could be better than something zombie themed!… Over the next two weeks we’re inviting all fans of the walking dead to get in on the “Zombie vs Zombie” movie debate, and in doing so, put themselves in for a chance to win a GritFX zombie themed tee.

Visit the GritFX Magazine to enter!

Closing Fri 15th Oct.

4-legged Tee Giveaway! PLUS The A to Z of Animal Tees

2010-09-04T16:23:00.003+10:00

Get on the entry list for this amazing first of a kind 4-legged tee giveaway!!! Visit our Magazine...
4-legged Tee Giveaway! PLUS The A to Z of Animal Tees

That's Right! GritFX have officially moved...

2009-09-28T14:09:00.004+10:00

THE GritFX Blog HAD OFFICIALLY MOVED AND IS NOW THE GritFX MAGAZINE!!

On September 6th, GritFX T-Shirts, with the help of GritFX buddy Wayne John from Wayne John - Musings of an over-worked programmer, migrated all our blog posts to our new domain.

For those new to the magazine, you can read music and film reviews and other articles by GritFX writers Decoy Spoon, Wadrick Jones and Max Drake (with additional posts by yours truly).

Drop by the GritFX Magazine today!

Please note: the comments area on this blog have been locked... but every post can be found on the Magazine... where you can comment as much as you desire ;)

We’re Moving…

2009-08-12T07:48:00.002+10:00

To all our regular readers who may have been wondering why we haven’t posted anything in a few weeks – we are in the process of moving to Wordpress.

Moving sucks, but the process has been smooth so far thanks to the invaluable help and assistance from GritFX buddy Wayne John from Wayne John - Musings of an over-worked programmer.

The new look GritFX Magazine will feature all of our regular writers and contributors (Decoy, Wadrick, Max and Manz), and will be launched at the end of August/beginning of September.

We will post on this blog in a few weeks when the GritFX Magazine is live on the net, and we hope to see all of you there.

The GritHouse Presents…

2009-08-12T07:42:00.003+10:00

After months of anticipation, Will (aka Wadrick) has finally (!!!) uploaded The Rookie (Part 2) to The GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel.

The Rookie (Part 2) has been plagued by production setbacks, and some volatile cast members throwing their plastic weight around. However, despite these problems, the concluding film was (in my humble opinion) worth the wait.

You can view the film at The GritHouse, or for those too lazy to visit the channel, below is an embedded file. If you haven’t seen The Rookie (Part 1) or can’t recall what happened (because it’s been so darn long between drinks, Will), visit The GritHouse.

The Alaskan Blob

2009-07-20T17:01:00.001+10:00

As reported last week by the Anchorage Daily News, a twelve-mile long blob of organic material was discovered floating in the icy Arctic waters off the north coast of Alaska. What was initially thought to be an oil slick is in fact some unknown biological substance or marine organism, thick and gooey and emitting a strong smell.

Gordon Brower, from the North Slope Borough’s Planning and Community Services Department, assembled a team and was joined by the Coast Guard to investigate the substance. He stated that nothing like it had ever been seen in the area before. Brower said the material was “pitch black” when it came into contact with ice, discolouring the ice and clinging to it. Brower and his investigative team also saw jellyfish entangled in the mystery goo and the carcass of a dead goose was handed in to the borough’s wildlife department, with bones and feathers being all that remained of the animal.

But before anyone begins to freak out and think some kind of flesh-eating alien lifeform is floating towards a beach near you, samples of the Alaskan blob have been sent to Anchorage for testing, with results expected this week. If no further information is forthcoming, perhaps we can assume that the substance is indeed a major concern - so much so that the authorities believe information dissemination would create widespread panic…as the alien blob drifts across the globe devouring all in its path…an insidious invasion by a faceless usurper…

…the blob was last seen, moving with the current, north past Barrow.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Source: Anchorage Daily News – “Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities” by Don Hunter)

Portrait of a Lady

2009-07-18T19:32:00.002+10:00

"Portrait of a Lady" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

We all have plans for the future and one of mine is to create a galley of portraits of all the cats I've loved and adored. With that in mind, I take any opportunity my cats present me with, waiting for the right moment to capture the perfect "portrait" - which, let's face it, can take a while with cats that constantly roll and yawn!

This week Ella decided she'd pose for me - giving me the opportunity to snap a handful of shots, the following two included. My dilemma now is to pick one of these two to be framed - something that's proving to be a hard task!

What are your thoughts? Can you decide which "Portrait of a Lady" you'd enlarge and frame as part of a gallery of kitty portraits?

To view thumbnails of all of my Camera Critter posts, visit the GritFX website.

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1980s)

2009-07-14T16:31:00.003+10:00

The Fly (1986)
Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz.
Written by Charles Edward Pogue & David Cronenberg.
Directed by David Cronenberg.

Teleportation. It’s what scientist Seth Brundle (Goldblum) believes will change the course of mankind. And he’s probably right. But before he can unleash the technology onto the world - being unsatisfied with teleporting inanimate objects - he decides to zap himself through his teleportation “pods” in his funky downtown warehouse and inadvertently traps a common house fly inside during the process. Having recombined his molecular structure with that of the fly, he begins a slow metamorphosis into a hideous hybrid – all to the horror of a young writer (Davis) who has been detailing the experiments. At times a black comedy, it is doubtful that an actor other than Jeff Goldblum could have inhabited the character of “Brundlefly” so completely and elevated The Fly to the heights at which it resides (though he is given excellent support from the memorably sleazy John Getz). Director David Cronenberg’s claustrophobic updating of the 1958 film of the same name features the kind of raw, tactile gore that 80s horror was all about, creating an unnerving experience. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Robocop (1987)
Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox, Miguel Ferrer & Dan O’Herlihy.
Written by Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven.

In Detroit in the not too distant future (which, in 1987, would mean about now), things suck. The city is overflowing with crime and corruption, but Omni Consumer Products believe they have the answer to cleaning up the streets. His name is Robocop, a former police officer named Murphy who was viciously gunned down by some nasty thugs, pronounced dead and then reassembled as a robotic crime-fighting force. But there’s a bit of Murphy left inside the organic and metallic frame of this lumbering protector, and that remnant of his former life wants to deal out some bloody justice to the bastards who slew him. In the beginning, the studios apparently (and understandably) baulked at giving the green light to a project called Robocop. But to their surprise, the film was a hit. Combining a sardonic wit with some bad-ass 80s violence, Robocop managed to overcome its seemingly inane title and produce the kind of adolescent fun that many teenage boys and young men crave. Full of colourful performances and a genuine self-assessing humour, Robocop epitomises all that is worthy about escapist entertainment. And I’d buy that for a dollar!

The Shining (1980)
Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd & Scatman Crothers.
Written & Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The Overlook Hotel is no place to spend a winter. Jack Torrance (Nicholson) is unfortunately not aware of the imposing doom of the isolated resort, and accepts a job as winter caretaker believing the solitude will help him finish that novel he’s been meaning to write. Accompanying Jack is his wife Wendy (Duvall) and their young son Danny (Lloyd) who exhibits a psychic ability known as “shining”. As the ghostly inhabitants of the hotel begin to reveal themselves to Danny and his father, it becomes clear that Jack is required as a permanent resident of the hotel - the entry pass being the murder of his wife and son. Stanley Kubrick’s film cannot hold a candle to the Stephen King novel on which it is based yet it exists as a separate entity in its own right. Ignoring entire tracts of the novel, Kubrick instead focussed on imagery and his typical theme of dehumanisation. Garnering a fanatical cult status and featuring one of the most incredible locations ever put to film, The Shining is often ambiguous and confusing, but at the same time, a visual treat whose imagery has never been equalled.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-07-12T20:20:00.007+10:00

The Cure - Disintegration (1989)

This is still hands-down my favourite Cure album. I say ‘still’ because back in my high school days, The Cure were a big fave band for me and my mates. We dug their whole catalogue, but it was great timing that we should witness the release of Disintegration, because after their (partial) dissolution in the wake of Pornography (1982), Robert Smith directed the music toward a more pop-orientated sound, with the hit singles “Lets Go to Bed”, “The Walk” and “The Lovecats”. They reunited with the commercially acclaimed albums The Head on the Door (1985) and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987), which saw further success pop-wise, but Disintegration seemed to be the album we were waiting for. From the gentle opening crash of “Plainsong” the blue/green layers float down and blanket you with sonic sedatives. Ahh…s’just like coming home. Robert Smith’s whispered vocals begin their mournful litany: “I think it’s dark and it looks like rain, you said/ And the wind is blowing like it’s the end of the world, you said/ And it’s so cold, like the cold if you were dead/ And then you smiled for a second”…and those words were like poetry for morose (self absorbed) teenagers, like myself. And even though the lyrics are a bit over-marinated in gothic gloom, they fit the melody and the atmosphere like a glove. He couldn’t sing anything else. Plus I actually think Robert Smith has quite a talent for lyrics. There are some great lines on this album. Another example is the title track, with the lines: “Now that I know that I’m breaking to pieces/ I’ll pull out my heart and I’ll feed it to anyone/ Crying for sympathy/ Crocodiles cry for the love of the crowd and three cheers from everyone”. Not too subtle perhaps, but hey, this album is one long sad dirge (it’s The Cure, we know that going in). Even somewhat brighter songs like “Lovesong” or “Pictures of You” can’t fully step from the alienated (Floyd-flavoured) shade cast by the other songs. But it’s just another reason to love this album - it’s such a cohesive work, sonically and thematically. The spacey keyboards, the flanged guitars, Simon Gallup’s bass-line anchors; they all meld into one thick lava-flow of sound. Maybe the members of The Cure were going through some dark times personally, but they managed to conjure the finest gothic-prog concept album of the modern era.

Nite Jewel - Good Evening (2009)

Nite Jewel is the alias of L.A.-based multimedia artist Ramona Gonzalez, who has been making music with various indie outfits before going solo. (I say solo, but you’ll note that most photos or footage of Nite Jewel reveal the band to be a two-piece). This album of (I assume) homemade electro-pop is on high-rotation at my house, and every time it finishes I just can’t seem to find anything to follow it. So it’s on repeat. (Be thankful you don’t live with me, I’d drive you nuts). And as I hear the opening track “Bottom Rung” take-off, I know I’ve made the right decision. The vocals are treated as such that I can’t make out a single line on the album, and that’s one of the things I love about it. I love that her voice becomes an instrument, and you just love melodies rather than lines. In turn, you give it any sort of narrative, or context. So the songs mean what you want them to mean. (As is the case with all music, I guess. The response being a subjective thing, in the end. But what I mean to say is: Nite Jewel [like other avant instrumental music] somehow manages to be more intimate as a result of its non-verbal twist). This album is couched in that lo-fi, home-recorded vibe, and the intentional fuzziness lends it a subterranean quality that seems to revel in the atmospheric murk. But it doesn’t push you away, it draws you in. There are great ‘songs’ here, like: “Artificial Intelligence” and “What Did He Say”, but I love it as an album - as a group work. It’s dreamy, it’s sludgy, it’s ambient. It’s warm, it’s playful, it’s inviting. But at the same time it’s kinda dark and gloomy too. (Imagine Pocahaunted if they went pop). Like other current neo-dance bands (particularly those on New York’s Italians Do It Better label) like: Glass Candy, Mirage and Chromatics - the music of Nite Jewel seems cosy and well paced. (It sounds truly retro and modern at the same time). It’s danceable, but you don’t have to go busting any moves. Rather, take your time, there’s no need to feel self-conscious, dance slow, just sway, or spin, dance stupid if you want to, this atmosphere is friendly. Some(most)times you don’t dance at all…just sit, have a drink and a chat.

Rodriguez - Cold Fact (1970)

Back in 1995, I ended up at a friend’s house in Sydney, late at night, with a bunch of people sitting around taking turns playing tunes for each other. At one point someone put this on and I was transfixed. ‘Who is this?!’ I asked. I was told his name was Rodriguez and this is his only album, and that he was one of the forgotten troubadours of the late-60s. They said he’d done time in prison, that he’d even written this album while serving time, yada yada yada. He was over-flowing with the romantic myth of a tortured artist. Anyway, I loved the album, and I tracked it down soon after. Most of the stories were wrong as it turns out. Except the part about being one of the forgotten artists of the late-60s. Jesus ‘Sixto’ Rodriguez was born in Detroit, he recorded two albums Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971) and they went largely unnoticed in the U.S. But he gained popularity abroad, namely in South Africa and here in Australia. In those countries he remains an underground legend, still performing shows now and again. (He even toured Australia as the support for Midnight Oil in the early 80s) And it’s something us Aussies should feel kinda proud of. Coz this guy is great. Great songs with great melodies and memorable lyrics delivered by one of the most distinct voices of folk-rock genre. I’ve turned a few people on to him over the years, and invariably they respond to it instantly. It’s full of 60s references, but somehow not really dated. “Sugar Man” opens the album with overt nods to the hippie drug culture, ‘Silver magic ships you carry/ Jumpers, coke, sweet mary jane’. But (like early Dylan) Rodriguez is essentially a moralist. In “Crucify your Mind”, he sings: ‘Was it a huntsman or a player/ That made you pay the cost/ That now assumes relaxed positions/ And prostitutes your loss?/ Were you tortured by your own thirst/ In those pleasures that you seek/ That made you Tom the curious/ That makes you James the weak?’ It’s one of those mythic 60s/70s albums, its amazing (criminal, really) it isn’t more celebrated and renowned. It should be regarded alongside Bringing it All Back Home, and Bridge Over Troubled Water and Tea for the Tillerman and Crosby, Stills & Nash’s first album. That’s a cold fact.

By Decoy Spoon

If you want to hear/see any of the music reviewed by Decoy, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Decoy’s Playlist of music videos.

Happy Huskie

2009-07-12T10:27:00.004+10:00

"Happy Huskie" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since my last camera critter post! After a very busy month, I now have some time to blog again... and that makes me smile like this happy Huskie :)

To view thumbnails of all of my Camera Critter posts, visit the GritFX website.

Irony in Advertising

2009-07-06T17:00:00.003+10:00

The Consumerist website offers articles related to “consumer culture”, and last week the site featured a selection of amusing ironic adverts from bygone eras. Top 10 Ironic Ads From History was compiled by Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky, who are co-editors of Ad Nauseum: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture.

As mentioned in the article, old cigarette ads are a dime a dozen, but they also happen to be personal favourites of mine – like the one below. According to the ad, “three leading research organizations” surveyed men and women in “every branch of medicine”, asking what brand of cigarette they puffed on. “The brand named most was Camel!”

Because, you see, back in those days, there was a thing called the “T-Zone” – “T” for “Throat” and “T” for “Taste”. “See how your taste responds to the rich, full flavor of Camel’s costlier tobaccos,” boasts the advert. Ahh, I see…cheap tobaccos give you cancer.

….I always preferred Marlboros anyway.

You can view all the crazy old ads in the Consumerist article here:
http://consumerist.com/5306170/top-10-ironic-ads-from-history

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-07-04T09:48:00.007+10:00

Milk (2008)
Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Alison Pill & Victor Garber.
Written by Dustin Lance Black.
Directed by Gus Van Sant.

As a disillusioned forty year-old, Harvey Milk (Penn) meets the love of his life Scott (Franco) in a New York subway and the two head for San Francisco. Settling on Castro Street in Eureka Valley and somewhat transforming his working-class neighbourhood, Milk soon decides to run for a position on the city council, hoping to bring to light the discrimination at the time of homosexuals across the country. Following the turbulent years of Harvey Milk’s life in San Francisco until his assassination by resentful conservative councilman Dan White (Brolin) in 1984, Milk is a wonderful film full of pathos and humour. Penn is truly extraordinary as the flamboyant yet gracious title character (“Penn-sational!” to quote my buddy Faystar from the ISeeFilms blog), given excellent support from the entire cast blessed with an Oscar-winning script by Dustin Lance Black. With compassion and flair, director Gus Van Sant has fashioned the best film of his career since his breakthrough masterpiece Drugstore Cowboy, utilising his singular style to full effect.

Right At Your Door (2006)
Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane, Scott Noyd Jr, Max Kasch.
Written & Directed by Chris Gorak.

A dirty bomb explodes one morning in downtown Los Angeles. Listening to the unfolding events on the radio is a frantic Brad (Cochrane), whose wife Lexi (McCormack) set off to work sometime earlier headed for the now blast area. With martial law imposed and electricity and communications down, Brad begins to seal his house with the help of a stranger seeking refuge, as the toxic cloud of ash begins to move into the suburbs. When Lexi appears hours later, sick and screaming to be let inside her own home, Brad is faced with the unconscionable decision to quarantine his wife outside, and wait for help from the authorities which eventually does not seem forthcoming. Lauded at the Sundance Film Festival a few years back, this well-made and acted low-budget film is still lacking the qualities that could have made it great. It never achieves the tension that it would obviously like from a story laden with such possibilities, and retires into a rhythm that borders on stiff. Even with a taut and unexpected final act, Right At Your Door ultimately remains a disappointingly lacklustre experience.

1408 (2007)
John Cusack, Samuel L Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub.
Written by Matt Greenburg, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski.
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom.

Mike Enslin (Cusack) is a jaded writer of haunted house guides who receives a mysterious postcard warning him not to stay in the infamous room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel, New York. After being told that the room is perpetually “unavailable”, he enlists the help of his publisher and their attorney and arrangements are made for his stay. Upon arrival, Mike is taken aside by the hotel manager (Jackson) who warns him of the supernatural history of the room (no guest comes out alive!) and implores him to reverse his decision. Thinking the entire scenario is an elaborate ruse Mike soon learns a whole new meaning for the term “late checkout”. Based on a Stephen King short story (always the best choices for the author’s screen adaptations), this well-mounted film benefits from a reliably strong performance from Cusack and some genuine scares. Production design and direction are solid, however, the film loses momentum once it has established its modus operandi and somewhat limps along to its conclusion. Like a hotel room with a great bed but a weak shower, the flaws of 1408 still cannot diminish its enjoyment. Worthwhile.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

The Bliss Point

2009-06-30T10:24:00.002+10:00

In a new book entitled The End of Overeating, David Kessler - former head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - suggests that food manufacturers and their scientists devise combinations of sugar, fat and salt to make their products irresistible. Kessler believes that the blame for the rampant increase of obesity and those with weight problems cannot be squared solely at the consumer. Rather, he suggests snacks, cereals and ready-made meals are created by food manufacturers with a specific goal in mind – to act on the reward centres of the brain, triggering the so-called “bliss point” and leaving the unwitting consumer hungry for more.

Kessler was best known for his attacks on the tobacco industry while at the FDA and in an article for The Times Online (UK) by science editor Jonathan Leake, he said that he believed the food industry manipulated their products in the manner that tobacco companies did/do to make their cigarettes more addictive. And while this may not be a new concept to many familiar with the pitfalls of processed foods, that an esteemed member of a former governing body has come forth with such a statement is important. Kessler makes a strong point that society has been shaped so that there is a food outlet on almost every street corner, allowing easy accessibility to unhealthy, “bliss-triggering” products whilst on the other hand organic, healthy foods increase in price and become less available.

By mixing precise combinations of sugar, fat and salt and texture, Kessler believes manufacturers create “hyper-palatable” foods to “stimulate feelings of pleasure”. He lists Heinz tomato ketchup and Starbucks’ Frappucinos as among the thousands of modern foods engineered to trigger the brain’s pleasure centres. Kessler ran the FDA from 1990 to 1997, and is now professor of paediatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California. He says that most people have a “bliss point” where an individual receives the greatest pleasure from sugar, fat or salt.

“As more sugar is added, food becomes more pleasurable until we reach the bliss point, after which it becomes too sweet and the pleasure drops off, “ Kessler told The Times. The same applies with fat and salt. According to Kessler, the optimum point stimulates a person’s appetite instead of suppressing it. By combining certain quantities of sugar etcetera, the ‘bliss point’ can be consistently stimulated resulting in constant craving.

In 2001, the National Audit Office in Britain released a report stating that 20% of adults were obese – a number that has been estimated at 25% today (no doubt a conservative figure). In 2007, the government’s Foresight report said that modern foods “with their increased palatability and ability to heighten sensory stimulation (emphasis added), drive us to reward ourselves with more food.” Following the 2001 report by the Audit Office, England’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson was so alarmed that he labelled the situation a “health time bomb”. Of course, given all of the above information, proper nutritional education is also of the utmost importance in a motorised society conditioned to believe that there is little time for one to cook or prepare a healthy meal or snack.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Source: The Times Online (UK) – Junk food triggers our ‘bliss point’ by Jonathan Leake)

Misty Mountain Morning....

2009-06-26T18:05:00.010+10:00

It's been a long time inbetween photo collection posts for me - it's actually been a while since I did a post of any kind!

Therefore, this morning I decided to rug up and venture out into the country cold and capture some shots of the morning mist. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed my morning....

Click on the images to view larger files

by Manz
(To view my other Photo Collections, visit the GritFX website.)

Crossed Lines

2009-06-25T19:28:00.003+10:00

If you’ve ever been disconnected from a phone call made to India, perhaps the photos below will illustrate why. Then again, it’s a wonder those pesky Indian telemarketers can actually get a connection to your home thousands of miles away. These photos, which appeared recently on rense.com, clearly display the shabby state of communications in some parts of the world’s second-most populous country.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-06-24T17:35:00.008+10:00

Zodiac (2007)
Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Edwards, Chloe Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch & Dermot Mulroney.
Written by James Vanderbilt.
Directed by David Fincher.

He was known as the Zodiac – a psychopath who terrorised San Francisco with a spate of murders beginning in the late 1960s. He sent coded messages and taunting letters to police and to the Chronicle newspaper. And he was never caught. From the outset, the case attracted the attention of a young Chronicle cartoonist named Robert Graysmith, and he spent many obsessive years poring over case files eventually penning a best-selling book. Graysmith declared he had cracked the unsolved case, naming the man he believed responsible for the killings. Based on Graysmith’s book, David Finchers’ long and at times difficult film is nonetheless a visually beautiful piece of work. Detailing (and I mean detailing) the exhaustive investigation and the effect on those involved, Zodiac weaves a serpentine story with an astounding nuance. The cast, production design and direction are all first class, with Fincher providing perhaps his most stylistically impressive film to date. This is, however, an acquired taste, but one of those films that gets better with each subsequent viewing.

Sunshine (2007)
Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong & Mark Strong.
Written by Alex Garland.
Directed by Danny Boyle.

Near-classic sci-fi about a small crew of astronauts charged with delivering a nuclear payload to our dying Sun. When they receive a radio transmission emanating from the idle craft of a failed earlier mission, their decision to investigate and what they discover threatens to sabotage mankind’s only chance of survival. Production details are one of the key elements of this film, providing a consistently believable (if fictional) account of life on a spacecraft. The first half of the film expertly introduces its characters and their environment, allowing the audience to identify and become emotionally involved. This is all thanks to the excellent script from Alex Garland and the dramatic skills of Sunshine’s talented cast. The visual effects are some of the most impressive ever created for a film since the advent of CGI, enhancing the story with subtle power in the deliberate manner of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Director Danny Boyle’s often creeping camera affords instant comparisons to Ridley Scott’s 70’s classic Alien, and I would be seriously in error to not also mention the terrific score by John Murphy & Underworld. In all, Sunshine is a work of art, existing in a genre that rarely offers such treats.

Michael Clayton (2007)
George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Merritt Weaver, Robert Prescott, Terry Serpico & Sydney Pollack.
Written & Directed by Tony Gilroy.

Arthur Edens (Wilkinson) is the leading defence attorney in a major civil suit being brought against United Northfield - a multinational agricultural corporation. When he suffers a breakdown (crisis of conscience) during a deposition, his New York law firm sends their fixer Michael Clayton (Clooney) to render damage control. When a memo surfaces that threatens to unravel the case, and not content with Clayton’s assurances regarding Arthur’s mental state, U-North’s sycophantic lead council Karen Crowder (Swinton) murderously decides to deal with the matter herself. Michael Clayton is a magnificent film – dark, smart and complex. This impressive directing debut from Tony Gilroy is a no-holds-barred examination of the corruption of the powerful juxtaposed with the indelible morality of the righteous. Clooney, Wilkinson and Swinton (she won an Oscar for her performance) are tremendous in meaty roles and are afforded excellent support from the entire cast. Slick, tense and written with clarity and a poison pen, Michael Clayton is one of the finest American dramas of this decade.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Phoenix & The Dust Devil

2009-06-18T18:58:00.002+10:00

Wiltshire in England has long been home to some of the most amazing crop circle configurations ever seen. One way of thinking associates the formation of crop circles to electromagnetic energy – that being, waves of energy moving through the globe or along the Earth’s magnetic field, leaving patterns of its waveform on the planet’s surface. Wiltshire is considered by crop circle enthusiasts to be one such hot-spot of electromagnetic energy that exist all over the globe, leading to the frequent formations in the area. Either that, or the most skilled crop circle hoaxists happen to reside in the Wiltshire region.

A recent crop circle was discovered in a barley field in Yatesbury, depicting the mythical phoenix as it rises, reborn, from the ashes. The 400-foot design has had enthusiasts in a spin, sighting other recent formations that seemingly point toward an apocalyptic event due to occur on or around December 21, 2012 – coinciding with the end of the ancient Mayan calendar, a subject receiving much attention in recent years.

Meanwhile, in some parts of the United States, tornadoes are a way if life and during 2008, over 180 twisters ripped through the state of Kansas. Photographer Jim Reed has been capturing natural phenomena for over 15 years and the picture above appeared in this month’s issue of National Geographic. It shows what is known as a “landspout’ – a weak, short-lived and extremely photogenic tornado.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Sources: The Telegraph, UK; National Geographic Society)

Reincarnation?

2009-06-14T14:41:00.004+10:00

Whilst I don’t usually watch Fox News or put much stock in what its “journalists” have to say, an interesting story did appear on Fox8 regarding the memories and nightmares of a young boy named James Leininger. The 11-year-old had held a deep fascination with World War 2 aircraft since he was very young, seeming to show an intimate knowledge of certain planes. When he began to have nightmares and put disturbing wartime images on paper, his parents started to ask questions.

Eventually, as is shown in the video (see link below), his parents became convinced that their son was the reincarnation of a pilot (also named James) shot down by the Japanese. When they tracked down the pilot’s former comrades, the young boy identified them by name, even though they had never met. Subsequently, when James (the boy) was introduced to the sister of James (the pilot), he recognised her and called her by a name she had not been referred to since she was a child. Finally, Japanese filmmakers became involved, inviting the Leininger family to the Asian island to visit the site of the pilot’s death. It was an emotional experience for the boy.

It is an interesting tale, hailed by some as definitive proof of reincarnation. But to sour the story is the fact that the Leininger family have now transcribed the entire sequence of events into a book entitled Soul Survivor. So, to the cynical mind (or those unable to reconcile reincarnation with their beliefs), perhaps this was some elaborate marketing scheme to sell a work of complete fiction. You be the judge.

Watch the short video here:
http://www.fox8.com/wjw-reincarnation-txt%2C0%2C1190900.story

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-06-12T20:05:00.005+10:00

Body Of Lies (2008)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Vince Colosimo, Golshifteh Farahani.
Written by William Monahan.
Directed by Ridley Scott.

In the Middle East, CIA operative Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) chases an Islamic extremist responsible for a spate of bombings. In the United States, an agency analyst named Ed Hoffman (Crowe) tracks Ferris’ movements on the ground through a network of communications systems, feeding information and distorting it on his own terms. When Ferris ingratiates himself into the Jordanian intelligence community by eliciting the help of the smarmy head honcho (the brooding Mark Strong), the lines of trust begin to blur. This exceptional film, based on a novel of the same name by David Ignatius, avoids any propagandist stance and features two excellent performances from its lead actors – possibly cementing Leonardo’s position as (arguably) the greatest actor of his generation. His career since the eternally overrated Titanic has been perpetually strong, choosing the kind of roles that have not only showcased his dramatic chops but have allowed the man to grow as an actor. Director Ridley Scott rarely takes a wrong step and again delivers with an intelligent, dramatic and suspenseful film. Highly recommended.

Valkyrie (2008)
Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Carice van Houten, Thomas Kretschmann & Terrence Stamp.
Written by Christopher McQuarrie & Nathan Alexander.
Directed by Bryan Singer.

As dissent towards the Fuhrer grows, a disillusioned Nazi colonel named Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) is enlisted by a group of like-minded individuals to assassinate the German leader and bring an end to World War 2. Whilst plots are organised and foiled, von Stauffenberg realises that loyalties within the Third Reich are not what they seem. This often laughable film is based on true events, but despite some excellent production values, never succeeds to fully engage. Cruise has never been stiffer, and a talented cast are given roles that equate to not much more than clichés (particularly van Houten, who was excellent in the recent Black Book, but whose character here is nothing more than an afterthought). It’s all a little limp really, with a potentially dramatic and serious subject being reduced to the stuff of a poor comic book. Director Singer has again established himself (in my ever humble opinion) as one of the dullest filmmakers in the biz, rendering Valkyrie as unsuccessful as the assassination of Hitler himself.

Gran Torino (2008)
Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, Ahney Her.
Written by Nick Schenk.
Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Walt Kowalski is a bitter veteran of the Korean War who, when his wife passes, is left to his own devices in the house they shared – all against the wishes and concerns of his family. Initially deriding the advent of Asian immigrants in his once idyllic American street, Walt is eventually won over by their culture and accepted into their community when he saves a young boy named Thao from the will of an Asian gang. Soon, a friendship begins to blossom between Thao and Walt, as the older man attempts to provide direction for the aimless youth – all the while staving off the advances of the boys’ hoodlum cousin. Gran Torino comes close to being singlehandedly sabotaged by its untalented Hmong supporting cast who, fortunately for us, are saved by Eastwood himself. Apparently the goal was to have those of authentic Hmong descent featured in the film, but by insisting on this realism, the filmmakers sacrificed the necessity of acting skill. Yet, despite this distraction, Gran Torino is still a solid film with a wholly satisfying ending and one of the most emotive end credit songs that I have heard in the last few years (co-written, incidentally, by Clint and Kyle Eastwood).

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Bird Life (Part 2)

2009-06-06T19:31:00.003+10:00

"Bird Life (Part 2)" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

As promised last week, here is Bird Life (Part 2).

To view thumbnails of all of my Camera Critter posts, visit the GritFX website.

Tunguska, 1908

2009-06-05T19:00:00.003+10:00

On June 30 1908, in a remote region of Siberia near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, something exploded above the Earth levelling an estimated 80 million trees in a 2,000-kilometre radius. Over a hundred years has passed since the explosion, and a definitive answer as to what constituted the event has been elusive. The most common theory regarding the “Tunguska Event” concerns a burst of air caused by an exploding meteor, asteroid or comet at least 5 kilometres above the surface of the Earth – a theory determined by the available evidence. The energy from the event was estimated to be 1,000 times greater than that recorded from the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 - approximately 10-15 megatons. Eyewitnesses to the event were few, with most reporting the sound of the explosion and subsequent tremors. People hundreds of miles away reportedly were knocked to the ground by the force of the ‘impact’. Others saw the sky “split in two” as fire and a massive windstorm ripped across the surrounding area.

In 1921, Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik led the first recorded expedition to the Tunguska region to investigate the event. Having accepted from local reports that the incident was caused by the impact of a massive meteor, Kulik was surprised at what he found. For there was no impact crater, only a huge area of scorched trees with some in the epicentre that were still standing. Further away, trees were levelled away from the epicentre, lending credence to the theory that an explosion above the Earth had sent an air blast down and horizontally outward. Subsequent expeditions revealed mineral and metal deposits in greater prevalence in comparison to their natural occurrence in the area, meaning that something extraterrestrial had fallen to Earth.

Many theories have of course been expounded in relation to the Tunguska event. A hypothesis put forward in 1973 by two physicists at the University of Texas, made the claim that the event was caused by a small black hole passing through the Earth. However, for this theory to hold water (so to speak), an ‘exit point’ must be determined and discovered at an opposing position on the globe – somewhere in the middle of the North Atlantic. In 2007, scientists from the University of Bologna in Italy made the claim that a lake discovered in the Tunguska region – Lake Cheko - was a possible impact point of the event. Whilst agreeing that the explosion happened above the Earth’s surface, they maintain that a fragment of the meteor/asteroid/whatever did in fact hit the Earth and that the lake has formed over the last century. Certain investigations have lent support to the idea, and a one-metre piece of rock was apparently found at the bottom of the lake via magnetic readings.

A few weeks ago, Yuri Labvin, head of the Tunguska Spatial Phenomenon Foundation, released a statement saying that the explosion was caused by an alien craft intercepting an incoming meteorite or asteroid. Labvin explains that the alien craft destroyed the approaching object by crashing into it and in the process, saved mankind from a cataclysmic event. Labvin has said that pieces of quartz inscribed with ‘strange markings’ were found in the area, and are currently being examined by experts. According to Labvin, these quartz fragments are remnants of the alien craft. However, this crazy theory is subject to any of these supposed pieces of quartz being produced or at the very least, photographed and shown to a sceptical world.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

For more information on Tunguska visit: http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/

American Idol 2009 Tour T-Shirts

2009-06-05T16:19:00.007+10:00

American Idol has wound down for a large percentage of those who watched and enjoyed the show. However, for some fans, things are just starting to warm up as we draw closer to the 2009 Live American Idol tour - which kicks off on July 5th in Portland, OR.

With the concerts approaching, Idology T-Shirts have begun the process of adding some 2009 Tour T-Shirts to the shop. Idol Man has started the section off by adding some Tour T-Shirts for Kris Allen and Adam Lambert fans (with some for Danny Gokey & Allison Iraheta coming soon).

If you would like an Idology T-Shirts design that is not set-up with your concert date, please contact Idol Man (idolman@live.com.au) with your request.

Bird Life

2009-05-30T22:20:00.004+10:00

"Bird Life" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

Birds. What a life. Oh, to have that kind of freedom...

Here's some footage I shot of different Aussie birds flying, eating and doing their birdy thing in my garden and surrounds.

Next week: Bird Life Part 2

To view thumbnails of all of my Camera Critter posts, visit the GritFX website.

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-05-29T13:08:00.005+10:00

The Conet Project - Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations (1997)

For years amateur shortwave radio enthusiasts have been coming across strange signals in the global static. These mysterious broadcasts would typically announce themselves with some beeps and blips, then robotic disembodied voices would start reciting groups of numbers (or phonetic alphabet letters) in spooky foreign monotones. ‘Seven, zero, nine, eleven…Seven, zero, nine, eleven…’; ‘Alpha, charlie, lima, delta…Alpha, charlie, lima, delta…’ Then, after a few minutes, they disappeared. This was weird. ‘What the hell is it?!’, was on the lips of many listeners. They became known as Numbers Stations, and no official explanation had ever been given when Akin Fernandez came across them in 1992. So the industrious radio addict started to log the frequencies and the times and the messages of these enigmatic occurrences. And more importantly, he recorded them. Some appeared at random. Some were as regular as clockwork. He had no idea what he was going to do with all the data. But he eventually compiled them into a collection he called The Conet Project, and he made it freely available. Along the way, Fernandez would eventually learn the nature of these numbers, and the answer to the long asked question was sobering. These were covert messages sent to field operatives for all the major espionage agencies over the world: CIA, KGB, MI6, BND, StB, MOSSAD etc. Since WWI shortwave has provided these agencies with a world-wide fool-proof method for communicating with their spies. The encoded message could be received and deciphered by the spy with the use of a “one time pad”, a disposable dictionary key, intended for use only once, then presumably burnt, destroyed, eaten etc. Immediately the broadcasts take on an ominous overtone. The voice of a child eerily reading out numbers could well be instructing a spy to kill someone or blow something up. They’re a compelling listen. I got right into them. I even got myself a shortwave radio and started to scan the late night bands. And Fernandez’s recordings have slowly become a cult thing, popping up in sampled form in film (Vanilla Sky) and music (Boards of Canada), most famously by Wilco on their 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It’s still freely available to download from Akin Fernandez’s label Irdial-Discs website, so if you haven’t heard it, get ready to be spooked. Literally.

Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007)

You know when you close your eyes, and you see that glittering mosaic of abstract shapes shifting in the dark light? Well that’s what the name Stars of the Lid refers to. And it’s the perfect handle for this band. The Texas duo (Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie) have been making drone music since 1993, and their music typifies these inner embryonic moments. Over the course of eight studio albums, starting with Music for Nitrous Oxide (1995) to this, Stars of the Lid have changed very little at first glance. But upon repeated listens, each album reveals subtle shifts in instrumentation, presentation and direction. The intent may remain the same, which seems to be to make moving minimal music for personal private consumption, perhaps while laying back, eyes closed, lights off, surrendering to the sound and the environment, letting the music transport you to unknown destinations. Your emotions and your imagination are paramount here. If you let it, this music will flesh out thoughts and dreams and feelings you weren’t aware existed. The music ages slowly, and it changes imperceptibly sometimes. Like life, I guess. This is ambient music rendered not with the cold fluorescent light of layered electronics, but with the warm candlelight of strings, horns, guitars, organ and piano. No vocals. No percussion. So it pulses in different ways than most ambient fans may be accustomed to. Everything is controlled and orchestrated with a gentle precision. There is apparently a feature length film coming out about Stars of the Lid, and having seen the teaser trailer, I’m sure it will make more people realise the emotional power this music can wield. Get your pillows ready now. Zap the Milo in the microwave. I can’t wait…

Elvis Presley - The Essential Elvis Presley (2007)

What can I say, really? The King. The Man. He’s pretty much the first rock star. (Bill Haley cringes in the grave, again. Along with Bo Diddley). Elvis was/is the archetypal blueprint for Rock’n’Roll. (Though I’d argue Buddy Holly deserves that title just as much). Elvis paved they way through the birth of rock in the mid-fifties and came to symbolise the untouchable icon perhaps better than any. A po’ boy from Tupelo, Mississippi, taking inspiration from the Rhythm & Blues originators of Memphis, and the Southern Gospel of his youth, he brought the edgy, dangerous ‘Devil’s Music’ to a wider (and whiter) audience. He had the looks. He had the voice. He had the swagger. He had ‘it’. His story is now the thing of legend. From the early rockabilly Sun Records songs like: “That’s All Right (Mama)”, “Mystery Train” and “Blue Suede Shoes”. Then the move to RCA and the breakthrough hits, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Hound Dog”, “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender”. Elvis was away. The hips were shaking, the girls were screaming and the oldies were outraged. He was punk before punk. Sex/Youth/Energy had entered the world of music like never before. And things would never be the same. The late-50s and early-60s saw Elvis move onto the silver screen, and the hits kept coming too. This was perhaps the birth of cross-promotional marketing, and the birth of the MEGA-star. He made something like 30 movies in half as many years. If John Lennon didn’t beat him to the punch, Elvis could’ve claimed he was bigger than God. Or was God. I dig Elvis, of course, and appreciate his immeasurable contribution to the world of music. (I probably wouldn’t be writing about music if it weren’t for Elvis. No one would. He helped legitimise Rock’n’Roll and turn it into a bona fide cultural phenomenon). My personal favourites are the late-60s era songs. I dig the dramatic theatre of songs like: “In the Ghetto”, “Suspicious Minds”, “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “Kentucky Rain”. His voice had deepened and he channelled the forlorn narratives beautifully. This album (part of Sony BMG’s Essential series) is a great selection of songs that does its best to cover the entire spectrum of Elvis and his impressive career.

By Decoy Spoon

If you want to hear/see any of the music reviewed by Decoy, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Decoy’s Playlist of music videos.

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1960s)

2009-05-28T14:44:00.009+10:00

Before we get started, I’ll let you know that my ratings system has changed. Damned ratings! Why do I bother? Is it because I cannot articulate how much I enjoyed or disliked a film that I need a rating to confirm my opinion? Or does it simply stem from a youth of writing reviews of each film I happened to see in a cheap, weathered notebook, accompanied by an “out-of-ten” rating? Just an old habit…?

Whatever the reason, on reflection, I had far too much going on with my reviews on this blog. I mean, what was the difference between 4 stars (previously known as “Awesome Shit” – and whilst we are here, I hate the word “awesome” – why do I use it?) and 5 stars (“Instant Classic”)? If a film can be classified as ‘awesome’ (ie: inspires awe), wouldn’t that then be a ‘classic’? Yeah, I know…it’s confusing. So, it’s all been changed. Simplified. Hopefully for the best.

OK…let’s head back to the swingin’ sixties.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Mia Farrow, John Cassavettes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans & Ralph Bellamy.
Written & Directed by Roman Polanski.

Cinema doesn’t get much creepier than Rosemary’s Baby. It’s hard to believe that this film is 40 years old, for in those four decades it has lost none of its insidious power. The success of the film lies firstly in the excellent source material, that being the novel of the same name by Ira Levin; secondly in a superb cast led by the eternally cool John Cassavettes and the marvellous character actor Ruth Gordon (from Harold & Maude); and lastly in the genius of writer/director Roman Polanski. The late 1960s through the early 1970s saw Polanksi at the pinnacle of his directing prowess, producing such excellent work as The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Tenant, and my personal favourite Repulsion – films that he never was quite able to best in his later career. Rosemary’s Baby is undoubtedly his finest achievement, telling the wicked tale of Rosemary (Farrow) and her husband Guy (Cassavettes) who are drawn into a satanic coven when they move into a seriously gothic apartment building in New York. Rosemary soon begins to suspect that, contrary to the placations of all those around her, the infant she carries is not the product of her marital union. This chilling and demonic film is the penultimate exercise in how to create dread on screen without sacrificing respect for its audience.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)
Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Gig Young, Susannah York, Bruce Dern, Bonnie Bedelia & Red Buttons.
Written by Robert E. Thompson & James Poe.
Directed by Sydney Pollack.

In Depression-era America, a desperate group of individuals descend on Santa Monica pier to take part in a dance marathon, drawn by the promise of food and shelter and an increasingly unattainable grand prize. As they ‘dance’ for hour upon hour, day upon day, providing morbid ‘entertainment’ for a listless audience, their interactions and personal tales of sorrow and despair provide a microcosm of life not confined to the era they represent. When the exploitation of the competitors is finally revealed to a cynical young woman named Gloria (Fonda) by the slimy promoter of the contest (the incomparable Gig Young, who won an Oscar for his role here), salvation and redemption slip further away. This wholly unique film, taken from the 1935 novel by Horace McCoy, is grand storytelling, featuring a swag of wrenching performances from its ensemble cast. The great director Sydney Pollack masterfully weaves a disturbing tale set almost entirely within the dance hall itself, as his camera swirls across the floor in a sweat-inducing waltz that reduces the audience member to merely another contestant in the competition. This is shattering stuff, the kind of film that comes along once in a decade and remains a seminal work of its time.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Douglas Rain (voice of HAL).
Written by Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

So how does one begin to describe 2001: A Space Odyssey? There is simply no film that compares to this masterpiece by director Stanley Kubrick, and arguably more than any other piece of cinema has had untold influence on future generations of filmmakers. It has been parodied countless times for better or worse, and has astounded and confounded audiences since its release four decades ago. For there are only two outposts in the 2001 universe, and no fence separating them on which to sit. Either there is hatred and confusion shown towards its deadening pace and psychedelic finale, or pure adulation of its mind-bending concepts and beautiful visual architecture (even if that is coupled with a small dose of confusion as to what it all really means). The film traces the technological evolution of mankind, coinciding with the appearance to man of an alien monolith. When one such artefact is discovered on the moon and a subsequent radio transmission received from somewhere in the vicinity of Jupiter, two astronauts embark on a journey to find the source. However, their mission is severely compromised when the artificial intelligence on board their craft attempts to subvert their purpose. Based on The Sentinel by author Arthur C. Clarke, this truly one-of-a-kind film is best served with a tab of LSD, or, failing that, an open mind.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Sibling Love...

2009-05-23T20:52:00.008+10:00

"Sibling Love..." is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

I've been a little quiet on the blogosphere, which is partly due to my poor boy being sick...

Jonesy, being the BIG boy that he is, will defend his and Ella's territory (along with tiny Ella herself) with vigour when it comes to nasty strays! Don't get me wrong... I know you can find a great companion in a stray/rescued cat - both Jonesy & Ella are rescued cats - but there are the occasional strays that have gone too long alone in the wild and are just outright feral!

We have one hanging around here right now. While defending the territory a little over a week ago, Jonesy had a massive fight - letting out screeches that woke me from my sleep. The next day he didn't seem himself and by that afternoon was groaning when touched. Straight to the vet we went, where we discovered that he was in fact very sick with a terrible infection!

Anyone who has nursed a sick animal would know that "medicine time" can be just as distressing to the owner as it is to the pet. But Jonesy did great with his course of antibiotics - he's an old hat at taking pills now... poor guy's been through a lot in his life!

Getting to this weeks' camera critter pictures...
With that all behind us - Jonesy is doing great! - I thought I'd honour this "sibling love" with a series of photos of Jonesy with his baby sister Ella. These were taken on a nice spring day when the birds where flying in and out of that tree they lie in front of ;)

P.S. I wish it was spring again... as we enter into winter it's getting colder and colder! At least I might have a chance to get some shots of the kids in front of a winter fire to share with you all. ;)

To view thumbnails of all of my Camera Critter posts, visit the GritFX website.

Chaiten Spectacular!

2009-05-22T17:38:00.002+10:00

On the 3rd May, the Chaiten volcano erupted in spectacular fashion, 800 miles south of Santiago in Chile. The photographs below were captured at night as the volcano did its thing amid a thunderstorm.

About a year ago, the volcano erupted for the first time in what was believed to be around 9,000 years. Evacuations of the neighbouring town of Chaiten have since been a regular occurrence as the volcano proceeds through its new eruptive phase.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

Wad’s Movie Shouts

2009-05-20T20:02:00.007+10:00

I See Films
Hugh Jackman and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are the subjects of the latest review by freelance writer and friend of GritFX Adam “The Faystar” Fay at I See Films (So You Don’t Have To). Now don’t expect Faystar to actually let you in on what the films he discusses are all about. His frequently hilarious, opinionated ‘reviews’ veer toward critique of the people involved and Hollywood in general rather than to any standard, run-of-the-mill film review (like, um, Wadrick’s Thirty Second Film Reviews…). So if you happen to be a film fanatic like Faystar (and myself), you’d do well to visit I See Films.

Movie Guys
Quentin Tarantino fans are waiting with pistols cocked for the release of the director’s latest film, Inglourious Basterds – a Second World War epic concerning a bunch of Yanks assigned to instill fear into the Germans by viciously executing Nazi soldiers (or something like that). The film stars Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger and apparently Mike Myers! Very cool promotional posters for the film have been released and Jon over at Movie Guys has been sharing them with readers – below is one featuring Eli Roth (best known as director of Hostel) looking murderously hip. To see all the posters - visit Movie Guys. While you’re there, check out the latest info on upcoming films including the trailer for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. And remember, they’re not critics, they’re movie guys!

by Wadrick Jones

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Redux)

2009-05-19T09:00:00.006+10:00

Time to play again – this post was due over a week ago. Let me just start by asking is it me, or is this year flying past?

Jim (affectionately self-titled as The Movie Whore) left a comment on this blog a few weeks back regarding Jason Mewes, best known as Jay to Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob. Jim and his buddy had discovered how easy it was to link Mewes to Hollywood names in the tradition of the great Kevin Bacon. Which begs the question as to why I don’t change this game to Six Degrees of Jason Mewes…?

Anyway, linking Mewes to the big Bacon was quite easy – perhaps proving Jim’s theory. Mewes appeared in Kevin Smith’s Dogma with Matt Damon; Damon starred in The Legend of Bagger Vance with Charlize Theron; and the gorgeous Charlize had a role in Trapped with the fried Bacon (mmmm!).

Of course, if anyone can link these two in fewer moves, let me know. Suggestions for future Six Degrees posts here on the GritBLOG are also most welcome.

by Wadrick Jones

Check out Kevin Bacon's charity website based on the "six degrees" concept at:
SixDegrees.org

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-05-12T13:15:00.013+10:00

Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)

Tortoise deserve a genre named after them. It would at least make things easier for the unimaginative fools (like me) who write about music. Then I could just say: ‘In 1996, Chicago band Tortoise released this landmark album of Tortoise music that took Tortoise in a new direction and changed the way people would think about Tortoise forever. Only Tortoise can play Tortoise the way Tortoise was meant to played.’ It wouldn’t make much sense, but it would be so much easier. Post-rock, Prog-rock, Alternative, Experimental, Electronica, Jazz, Krautrock…none of these terms really seemed to sum them up, even though there were undeniable elements of all those things in their music. The opening song “Djed” was an epic 20-minute long soundscape that evolved - much like humankind - out of the static slime, and grumbled along the ground on bass fins until it merged with the drums and took its first steps on Neu! legs. Then things were happening. By five minutes in, you were compelled to see where this new species of music was going. And it certainly is a journey of an album. A free-flowing wordless trek through the primordial ooze of avant-garde music, from John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to Can and Faust, to Fripp & Eno, to Neil Young and the future Wilco, to Radiohead and Godspeed You Black Emperor! This sounded like something that was there in the background of all that music. Rubbing stones and sticks together, searching for that fresh spark. “Glass Museum” is a journeying raft on rough waves of slow-motion ocean, sailing off to find new land, and document the various species of life found there. “A Survey” makes camp in the darkness of unmapped forests and braves the night, while “Along the Banks of Rivers” finally heads for home with renewed perspectives, somewhat philosophical now of the fates (and double-edged prizes) that await those who venture into the unknown.

Martina Topley-Bird - The Blue God (2008)

After hearing about 45 seconds of the opening track “Phoenix”, I was sold. If this song had Thom Yorke vocals you could tell people it was a song Radiohead forgot to put on the In Rainbows bonus disc. Or if Portishead hadn’t finally brought out their long awaited Third album, this would still have quenched our trip-hop/downtempo thirst. Although, The Blue God reminds me more of Dummy-era Portishead. So maybe if you spliced 2007 Radiohead DNA with 1994 Portishead DNA, you might end up with an album sounding a little bit like The Blue God. Who knows? I get carried away with nonsense. In 1996 Martina Topley-Bird guested vocals on Tricky’s acclaimed albums Nearly God and Pre-Millennium Tension, and released her debut solo album Quixotic in 2003. Her voice would suit many genres; she could be a pop singer, a jazz singer, a lounge singer, a blues singer, because all these styles somehow leak out in her tones. This is a great album to slap on if you’ve got friends coming around for drinks. This is a great album to slap on late at night and play poker to. This is a great album to slap on while you chop the veggies for dinner. This is a great album to slap on if you like Massive Attack or Air or Fat Freddy’s Drop or Thievery Corporation. This is great if you like a cocktail mix of sweet lullabies and smooth melodious lines with a twist of dark moodiness for atmosphere. I’m amazed this hasn’t become a far bigger album, because I think she has mass appeal, and is instantly likeable for the right kind of fans. But I also like the fact this album is sneaky, and working its mojo slowly. It’s not a ham-fisted album that is leaping down ears trying to impress anyone. It’s an album that is quietly sophisticated, and patient, and waiting to be heard some night when the proper forces align. Perhaps when the moon is full, illuminating the right moment like a blue god.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985)

For me, and many a prog-rock aficionado the world over, Kate Bush was/is the ‘Cult Queen of Cool’ who became the unofficial premiere female artist in a very male-dominated genre. I know she was having success in the Pop sphere. From her first acclaimed album The Kick Inside (1978) with the single “Wuthering Heights” she was the crazy-dancing doyen of baroque-pop. But she was always an acquired taste. Some people couldn’t stand her. And this designation made us Prog-fans claim her even more. She seemed like one of us. Nerdy, literate, obsessive, out-of-step. And Kate seemed to celebrate her ‘otherness’. She went about making her own unique music, album after album. With Hounds of Love she brought her signature theatricality into a more modern context, utilising the technology of the time to help animate her vision in a broader setting. And it’s a (another) masterpiece. From the opening hit, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”, we’re reminded this is a fearless artist who combines melody, rhythm and structure masterfully, and then matches it with ambitious concepts to achieve maximum results. Her vocal performances are brilliant, and the lyrics thoughtful & crafted, as usual. Only Kate Bush could/would write a song like “Cloudbusting” - sung from the perspective of (radical psychologist/inventor) Wilhelm Reich’s son, who watches his father in awe, and mourns his father’s imprisonment (never to see him again), inspiring him to tell his father’s story. And the second half of the album is a suite of songs that comprise a mini concept album about a woman lost and drowning in freezing waters. The song “And Dream of Sheep” is worth particular mention, coz it’s one of Kate’s most beautiful compositions. The sadness in the melody is heartbreaking, and the lyrics paint an image of calm release and dignified escape from suffering: “If they find me racing white horses/ They'll not take me for a buoy/ Let me be weak/ Let me sleep/ And dream of sheep”. The fear of dying is sublimated into a simple wish: “I can’t keep my eyes open/ Wish I had my radio/ I’d tune into some friendly voices/ Talking about stupid things/ I can’t be left to my imagination”. The remainder of the album is a swirling watery diorama filled with cut-up sounds, choppy rhythms and ambient chimes that play out like someone’s life flashing before their crying eyes. A great uncompromising album from a great unconventional artist.

By Decoy Spoon

If you want to hear/see any of the music reviewed by Decoy, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Decoy’s Playlist of music videos.

Idology T-Shirts

2009-05-11T10:52:00.008+10:00

OK, so as well as everything else I seem to do lately, I am now a partner in Idology T-Shirts – the American Idol Fan T-Shirt Shop. Due to a recent arrangement with the producers and those who hold the rights to the Idol franchise, Cafepress – the print-on-demand supplier for Idology T-Shirts – can now freely market all Idol-related fan gear. As a result, Idology T-Shirts designs were featured exclusively this week on the Official American Idol website. Idol Man (not his real name) and myself were totally over-the-moon at the sight of this excellent free advertising.

So to all you American Idol fans out there – make sure you visit Idology T-Shirts, now offering a range of other cool merchandise for all of this season’s contestants.

Here are some new design releases I happened to be involved with.

Click on the following links to view all apparel items for that design:
Cougars for Kris
Gokey: Heaven Sent
Allison Rocks
Lambert: 21st Century King

by Manz

Theodore...

2009-05-09T18:52:00.006+10:00

"Theodore..." is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

Here's some footage I slapped together of my in-laws' dog "Teddy". Footage was shot a few years ago on rural acreage in northern News South Wales (Australia) - I love how the little guy is watching the sunset at the end. Hope you enjoy this brief little film.

Hubble’s Universe

2009-05-05T17:39:00.010+10:00

Hitching a ride into orbit with the space shuttle Discovery in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken incredibly clear and detailed images for almost twenty years. After some initial forestalling of the launch and eventual problems with one its mirrors, the Telescope has proven to be an invaluable aid for astronomers and is scheduled to be replaced in 2013 by the brand spanking new James Webb Space Telescope - named after James E. Webb, the second administrator of NASA.

Here are a few of Hubble’s greatest moments.

“Cat’s Eye” Nebula – three thousand light-years from Earth and over half a light-year across.

The Orion Nebula – only 1,500 light-years from Earth in an area where stars are formed.

“The Sombrero Galaxy”, named for obvious reasons.

V838 Mon – this image is often referred to as “Starry Night”.

“Cone” Nebula, within a star-forming region.

The “Eskimo” Nebula – some say this resembles a person’s head inside the hood of a parka, but it looks more like an iris to me.

NGC 2818 – this is what a dying star looks like.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

Candy... How Sweet She Is!

2009-05-02T16:49:00.010+10:00

"Candy... How Sweet She Is!" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

Meet Candy, my parents cat. This weeks camera critters photo shows Candy in one of her "comfort zones" - the sink in the main bedroom ensuite where she feels secure in the presence of unwanted visitors - like my sisters dogs!! You'd think she'd find a more comfortable place to bed down - right?

And yes, I've manipulated the image... here is the original for curious visitors...

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Redux)

2009-04-30T19:42:00.005+10:00

Last week I tackled the Ashley Judd suggestion from GritFX girl Manz. This week, it’s a two-part Bacon-thon, with the first suggestion – Zac Efron - coming from Rosidah (check out her blog Music of my Life). I thought this was gonna be a tough one, but thanks to Zac’s appearance in 2007’s Hairspray, it proved not too difficult after all.

Zac Efron was in Hairspray with Michelle Pfeiffer; Ms Pfeiffer starred in The Witches Of Eastwick with Jack Nicholson; Jack had that memorable performance in A Few Good Men alongside the Baconmeister.

The second name to link to Bacon via six degrees came from Russ (check out his excellent photography at Russ’ Photo Blog), who made the seemingly unrelated suggestion of eccentric physicist Richard Feynman. It turned out (to my surprise) that Feynman had actually appeared in a 1980 film called Anti-Clock. And so, from there, the game was on.

Richard Feynman was in Anti-Clock with a guy named Sebastian Saville; Saville appeared in one other film before this, Libel with Wilfred Hyde-White; Wilfred Hyde-White was in The Toy with Richard Pryor; Richard Pryor appeared in Lost Highway with Balthazar Getty; Balthazar was a cast member of Where The Day Takes You with Sean Astin; Sean Astin was in White Water Summer with the Bacon.

And that’s exactly six degrees. Thanks for that one Russ – a nice challenge.

Of course, if anyone can link these suggestions in fewer moves, let me know. Suggestions for future Six Degrees posts here on the GritBLOG are also most welcome.

by Wadrick Jones

Check out Kevin Bacon's charity website based on the "six degrees" concept at:
SixDegrees.org

Next Week: Jason Mewes

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-04-29T20:44:00.008+10:00

Quarantine (2008)
Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez, Steve Harris, Johnathon Schaech, Greg Germann & Rade Serbedzija.
Written by John Erick Dowdle & Drew Dowdle.
Directed by John Erick Dowdle.

Here we go again with yet another Hollywood remake of a foreign horror film, this time the superior Spanish production [REC]. On one seemingly uneventful evening, a young reporter and her cameraman are shooting a piece on a brigade of firefighters. When they receive a call to attend a disturbance at an apartment building, they discover some crazy shenanigans inside from one rabid tenant. Soon, the building is quarantined and it becomes clear that there is a virus loose, turning the tenants into ravenous, bloodthirsty zombie-like creatures. Because, you know, gone are the days when a movie virus meant certain death – it’s now a one-way ticket to flesh-eating town. Anyway, filmed entirely from the point of view of the cameraman, Quarantine follows the chaos and disintegration of the inhabitants of the apartment building as the virus claims victim after victim, and any attempt at escape is met with deadly force from the authorities staged outside. Not without its genuinely freaky moments, Quarantine is nonetheless just another addition to this faux-reality sub-genre that has reached its zenith and now, unfortunately, fails to convince.

Babylon A.D (2008)
Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry, Mark Strong, Charlotte Rampling & Gerard Depardieu.
Written by Mathieu Kassovitz & Eric Besnard.
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.

The worst decision a director can make is to cast Vin Diesel in his or her film. And director Mathieu Kassovitz said as much after completing Babylon A.D – the film based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. When a director speaks so openly of such matters, it does not bode well for the actual film – and this is the case with Babylon A.D. In an apocalyptic future, a mercenary is hired by a Russian gangster to transport a young woman named Aurora across Europe to America. Pregnant, Aurora is part of an elaborate plan to bring forth a spiritual awakening by a religious sect known as The Noelites. Babylon A.D is an example of a bad film that could have been great. Not only is it let down by a dull, emotionless performance from Diesel, it suffers at the hands of some poor writing. But at times, it displays the kind of production design and direction that suggests a classic of the genre. Unfortunately, as a complete entity, the film never really works, feeling akin to the hobo cousin of Alfonso Cuaron’s modern classic Children Of Men.

Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans (2008)
Bill Nighy, Michael Sheen, Rhona Mitra, Kevin Grevioux, Steve Mackintosh.
Written by Len Wiseman & Danny McBride.
Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos.

The third film in the Underworld franchise is a prequel, tracing the events that lead to the ages-long feud between werewolf and vampire. Lucien, the first werewolf to ever take human form (known as Lycans), is in love with the vampire Sonja, a forbidden liaison that eventually incurs the wrath of Sonja’s father Viktor (Nighy). Locked away and marked for death, Lucien escapes, setting loose his Lycan buddies and gathering an army for a violent assault on the vampire lair. The story told here was explained briefly in the first Underworld film, and it was a tale that deserved to be told in it’s own right. Unfortunately for its audience, Rise Of The Lycans barely delivers, revealing little depth and feeling drastically half-baked. The film is a definite improvement on the horrendous Underworld 2, and benefits from actor Sheen reprising his role as Lucien from the original film. But what had potential to be a great series of films has become as disappointingly dreary as the vampire way of life.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Golden Oldies...

2009-04-26T08:53:00.010+10:00

"Golden Oldies..." is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

I've been so busy this week that I didn't even think about my camera, let alone pick it up and snap some photos.

Therefore, this weeks camera critter post is a selection of critter photos taken on various occasions - before digital cameras. On each occasion, I had to capture what I saw with one frame of film... the cows took off on a stampede; the spider ran into the darkness; and the pelicans and gulls dispersed incredibly quickly.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (Redux)

2009-04-24T18:19:00.003+10:00

So let’s play. Everyone knows this game – it became a phenomenon – even if you’re not a movie fan. The gist is that Kevin Bacon can be linked to any actor or actress in Hollywood through the philosophy of “six degrees of separation”, which maintains that everyone on the planet is one step away from each person they know, and two steps away from each person known by one of the people they know. At the most, we are all six steps away from everyone on the planet. I’m not sure I believe this to be true, but it has been proven time and again that it sure does apply to Kevin Bacon (although better examples of actors/actresses in the movie biz have been proven). So I’ll attempt to go as far as I can linking mainstream and obscure actors and actresses to the Bacon.

This week’s starting point (provided by GritFX guru Manz) is Ashley Judd, star of such films as Kiss The Girls and the recent Bug. Obviously, the point is to link Ms Judd to Bacon in as few steps as possible and to not exceed six steps (or degrees). And frankly Manz, this is an easy one…

Ashley Judd was in Double Jeopardy with Tommy Lee Jones; Tommy Lee was in JFK with the Bacon.

Anyone one out there who wishes to provide me with a starting point (the more obscure actor/actress the better), leave your suggestions in the comments box.

See you all next week.

by Wadrick Jones

Check out Kevin Bacon's charity website based on the "six degrees" concept at:
SixDegrees.org

What We Can’t See Can’t Hurt Us

2009-04-23T20:28:00.006+10:00

In a recent interview with Good magazine online, noted futurist Ray Kurzweil spoke of nanotechnology and it’s wildest applications. He noted that virtual reality in the near future could be given a tremendous boost through the use of nanotechnology. Instead of utilising some kind of device (ie; a bulbous headset as seen in many Hollywood science-fiction films), “nanobots” could be directly injected into the brain, fooling the neurons into believing that the recipient was indeed travelling to some exotic locale, when in reality, their physical being was still in the comfort of their own home, slothing in their favourite armchair clutching a beer.

Whilst this all sounds like something lifted straight from the mind of Philip K. Dick, the rise of nanotechnology since the 1980s has been profound. It has scared many and, reluctant to applaud this seemingly wonderous scientific advancement, have been vocal critics of the lack of oversight and non-existant research into the potential hazards of the technology. For nanotech concerns the study of materials on such a mindbogglingly small scale (in comparison, on the nanoscale, one nanometre is one billionth of a metre – or the size of a marble to that of the Earth) that the established properties of said materials begin to get fuzzy. For example, at such a scale where gravity is no longer relevant and where molecules can be manipulated into self-assembly, it would seem obtuse to not give serious consideration to all possible risks. But instead, the pursuit of the control of matter on the atomic scale and creation of nano-machines has proceded unfettered, appearing to be lead by the ironic assertion that what we can’t see can’t hurt us.

It is believed that nanotech will one day render us all immortal, our bodies cursing with miniature robots repairing the inevitable decay of species. It has been reported (although, to this author’s knowledge, not substantiated) that certain corporations are already using nanobots, in particular, European food processors. Nanobots were reportedly added to processed foods, acting to preserve food in packaging for far longer periods than what is currently achievable. However, since the naked eye cannot see these nanobots, where do they go once the package of food is opened and consumed. Can they feasibly find new material in the garbage bin and begin to reassemble into a new machine with a new modus operandi? Considering the ramifications of interaction between nanomaterials and biomaterials are unknown, it seems pertinent to examine these issues before we are faced with strange biological, ecological and environmental dilemmas.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-04-20T18:02:00.011+10:00

Lush - Spooky (1992)

Remember Lush? Like many bands of the early 90s, Lush became kind of big and also a bit dwarfed by the explosion of the alternate music scene, which gave rise to countless new bands vying for a piece of the booming major-label pre-internet spotlight. Some bands got a bit overlooked in the process. Anyway. Lush produced some damn good music and a couple of really cool albums. This was their first (studio album). And throughout ’92 and ’93, my good friend and I ate it up in heaped spoonfuls right along with our daily dose of Nirvana and Sonic Youth and Mudhoney etc. Spooky somehow fit right in with our existing tastes, and it didn’t hurt that it sported two enigmatic front-women: Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson. Along with The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, the ‘shoegaze’ scene had a messy, sullied sound that was somehow more feminine than the muscular distorted guitars of America. It was the UK yin, to the US yang. It was smooth distortion, but not in the reductive clinical sense of the later pop-punk (Blink 182) sound, which was a tone I found one-dimensional. The shoegaze scene was still a nice wild sound that meshed with the vocals producing hypnotic hybrids that were dense and layered and roomy. Lush’s songs were large, solid blocks of travelling harmony. At faster tempos, their sound had an effect of propulsion. Slower tempos were a swirling ebb that could take you far away from shore like an unseen tidal rip. It was produced by Robin Guthrie (of Cocteau Twins) and he presented their sound well. It may sound a tad dated in stylistic terms, but it still manages to rise above a lot of the other bands that were making music at that time (surprisingly, I find grunge to be a genre that hasn’t aged as well as I would’ve thought - but give it time I guess, it’ll come around again). Lush released two more albums, Split (1994) and Lovelife (1996) and then disbanded after the tragic suicide of their drummer Chris Acland in 1996. So when I need my fix of melodic-pop wrapped in flowering flanger-pedals, I can always rely on the metallic buzz of Spooky. It’s lush.

Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008)

Whatever Scarlett did was gonna polarise people. Before anyone heard a note, some were gonna love it and others were gonna hate it. If she went the obvious pop route she would have been ridiculed as just another ambitious celebrity cashing in on herself. ‘What’s next, a perfume or a lingerie line?’ But no one expected this - a covers album. And of all the artists to cover…Tom Waits (?!) That’s pretty ballsy. How does one improve on, or take his songs in new directions? Can it even be done? The answer is yes (kind of). This album endeavours to render his songs in an expansive (Daniel Lanois-like) soundscape. Plus she’s got some cool guests - namely Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio) handling guitar and production duties, and David Bowie adding vocals on two tracks. Pretty cool. Now, Scarlett’s not the greatest singer in the world. But it plays to her brusque strengths, and somehow works to create a damn good album. I like that she’s not afraid to have her voice lost in the atmospheric mix - and everything is serving the whole. When I first heard Scarlett was coming out with an album, I (unfairly but justifiably) thought: ‘How boring’. But I like that it confounds expectation - from the outset. The first song, “Fawn”, is an instrumental, and it serves to acclimatise you to the world you’re about to enter into. One could even expect Nick Cave or Cat Power to start singing. The sound is ragged and textured, yet delicate at the same time. We hear Scarlett for the first time on “Town with No Cheer” and she laments the song through a lovely crash of fatalistic sounds. And it just continues to surprise you with “Falling Down”, “Fannin’ Street”, “Song for Jo” and by the time you get to the music-box lullaby of “I Wish I Was in New Orleans” you’re thinking: This is pretty f&#king cool. As it starts, “No One Knows I’m Gone” sounds like (The Velvet Underground’s) “Venus in Furs” - and that’s never a bad direction to take things. The album is an acquired taste perhaps, but that’s only because they’re trying to do something different. (It’s certainly ambitious, but I wouldn’t say pretentious.) And the album deserved more attention and praise for that alone.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Flaunt It (1986)

Science-Fiction, Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Red Dawn, Nuclear War, guns, rockets, bombs, Robots, Toys, Sex, fake ads between songs, crazy wild-haired cyber-punk dudes - this had everything a thirteen year old boy could want in 1987. I remember getting it on vinyl, and feeling like I was somehow cooler for having it. (I still have it.) The large-size art work and inner sleeve were amazing. There were photos of strange exotic people who looked like they’d walked right out of Mos Eisley spaceport. There were lyrics and symbols and assorted English and Kanji text. There were faint diagrams of assembly instructions for what looked like transformer robots printed beneath the words. And their words actually made sense to a thirteen year old. The first thing you hear is: ‘I wanna be a star!’ - which speaks to a teenager, instantly. And I made mad little mind-movie narratives for all their songs with lyrics like: ‘The US bombs cruising overhead/ There goes my love rocket red’, and ‘I'm a Custom Kar Kommando/ And she she she can she can’, and ‘Star Wars Western USA…Ultra Venus USA…Rockit Miss USA’, and ‘I’m a space cowboy/ I’m a 21st century whoopee boy!’. I totally understood that. I related to those guys as only a thirteen year old can - the magical age when the irrational becomes rational, when dreams and reality are inseparable. When truth and lies are both necessary. And so these guys became my band. It was like my own secret sci-fi world, where I knew all the characters, all the plots, all the tricks and all the action. And you don’t deconstruct anything at that age. You have no sense of history. You have no cultural reference points. You don’t really think about the fact their songs “Love Missile F1-11” and “Atari Baby” sound like Chuck Berry riffs and Doo-Wop played on keyboards. Like rockabilly techno. Like space-age Elvis. As a kid, you just dig it. In 1987, I had never heard Kraftwerk, or Suicide, or Tangerine Dream, or Eno. Looking back now, this album was incredibly important for me, I think it subconsciously primed me for the discovery of all that music later on in life. It prepared me for life as a 21st Century Boy.

By Decoy Spoon

If you want to hear/see any of the music reviewed by Decoy, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Decoy’s Playlist of music videos.

Meet the Neighbours...

2009-04-19T09:09:00.006+10:00

"Meet the Neighbours..." is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

With all the trees that surround us, we hear these neighbours more than we see them. This week when we saw they were up at the fence, Dave & I took the opportunity to take some photos. They were more than happy to smile for the camera...

Seeds Of Life

2009-04-17T15:31:00.002+10:00

In February 2008, on the remote Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the North Pole, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was officially opened. The underground installation was drilled from permafrost and took less than a year to build. Otherwise known as the “Doomsday Vault”, it aimed to house nearly three million varieties of seeds from across the globe, and was promoted as a humanitarian cause. Through the collection and copying of seeds, the vault officially provided protection of what amounts to the planet’s lifeblood in the event of a global catastrophe. But considering that seeds of plants are already stored in various gene banks across the globe, there were immediate questions raised as to another explanation for the Norwegian installation.

The official position is that the vault was the undertaking of the Norwegian government, yet most of the funding came from outside sources. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spearheaded the project, and under the auspices of the Global Crop Diversity Trust – an independent organization – will direct and maintain the vault. Of course, there is a ‘conspiracy theory’ here if one wishes to find one. Considering that funding for the vault also came from such organizations as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Monsanto corporation, questions were obviously raised as to other possible explanations for the construction of the vault by many online researchers.

For example, the idea that the vault was built in case of a global catastrophe wiping out the planet’s seed banks, prompted many to ask if the wealthy elite knew something we didn’t? Was it simply their personal insurance policy? Or was it yet another move towards complete control of the planet through subjugation of the world’s food supply? It is no secret that many wealthy families have private underground installations that have the sole purpose of housing their rich bones during a nuclear or biological disaster - so is the seed vault simply an extension of this sub-surface agenda? Many also point to the actions of corporations like Monsanto - and other “Doomsday Vault” sponsors such as DuPont – who have spent billions on seed research, especially genetically modified organisms (this is another story altogether!), rendering the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to defy the philanthropic nature as advertised.

The vault is surely an impressive structure. Blast-proof doors guard the entrance, with state-of-the-art security and steel-reinforced concrete one metre thick protecting the precious seeds held within. But its purpose for what appears to be the benefit of a few rather than the entire globe, has done nothing but increase its infamy, even in the face of such plaudits from everyone from National Geographic to the UN.

For more on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and its history, I urge any interested person to read the excellent article by F.William Engdahl here:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1990s)

2009-04-13T17:05:00.011+10:00

The Fifth Element (1997)
Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry.
Written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen.
Directed by Luc Besson.

Korben Dallas, a jaded NYC cab driver (Willis) in the distant future, unwillingly becomes the guardian of a strange young woman who just may hold the key to the fate of mankind. Aided by two bumbling monks and pursued by the alien henchmen of the ruthless Zorg (a crazed Oldman), Dallas must retrieve four ancient stones (representing the four elements) before an evil planet collides with Earth. This cartoon-ish film is one big barrel of fun, sporting a set of colourfully unique visuals (along with some amazing costumes designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier), and a cast privy to the films’ adolescent nature. And it is this ‘element’ that provides the joy of this sci-fi comedy, for it never takes itself seriously and never meanders. Even Jovovich (one of the worst actresses in the biz) seems totally in her ‘element’ here (can I use the word ‘element’ again in this review?!), primarily because she has little dialogue and the dialogue she does have is mostly alien gibberish. Apparently conceived by writer/director Besson when he was a teen, this infectious film may drag on a little too long but is still one of the most entertaining and best-loved films of the 1990s.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce and Kevin Spacey.
Written by David Mamet.
Directed by James Foley.

You need brass balls to sell real estate, an uptown motivator tells the disparate bunch of loser salesmen at the beginning of Glengarry Glen Ross, initiating a night of desperation in an attempt to keep themselves employed. Mamet’s adaptation of his own play is a brilliant examination of desperate men and con artists, and the actions wrought by a need for survival and the pursuits of greed. Profane and incisive, Glengarry Glen Ross is the kind of drama that actors salivate for. The cast is simply superb – from Spacey’s ice-cold office manager to Pacino’s slick and smarmy hotshot – but ultimately, this is Lemmon’s film and he lends one of the best performances of his legendary career as the veteran salesman Shelley “Machine” Levene. The film uses rainfall as an aesthetic the way David Fincher’s Se7en did a few years later, and even though many critics have voiced the opinion that this film is nothing more than a photographed play, the material is too strong for that to really be a consideration.

In The Name Of The Father (1993)
Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson, John Lynch & Corin Redgrave.
Written by Jim Sheridan & Terry George.
Directed by Jim Sheridan.

Powerful film based on the true story of Gerry Conlon who, along with friends and family, was falsely accused of the Guildford Pub bombing in London and sentenced to life in prison. Forced to share a cell with his father, the pair must examine their own relationship. When the identities of the real perpetrators of the bombing are revealed to police, the information is withheld and it’s then up to a feisty young female barrister to help clear their names. In The Name Of The Father is one of those rare films that truly stir the raw human emotions of its’ audience, persuading anger, sadness, compassion and victorious joy in equal amounts. Postlethwaite and Day-Lewis are incredible in difficult roles as father and son, and Emma Thompson is tremendous, especially during the final reel in the powerhouse courtroom scenes. Co-writer/Director Sheridan (My Left Foot) delivers a perfect example of how to tell a great story on film, avoiding the clichés that are all too obvious in the majority of films based on true events. One of the best of the decade.

RATINGS CHART...

If you want to watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Wadrick's Playlist.

Who Says All Elephants Have Great Memories?

2009-04-10T17:18:00.012+10:00

"Who Says All Elephants Have Great Memories?" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

While having an Easter lunch with my family today, my brother shared some photos of the Bangkok Elephant Campaign which he initiated & conceived to bring attention to the treatment of the elephants in Bangkok. The messages in the murals were written by Jasun Vare (my brother), with each concept developed with Jasun's creative partner Scott Hitchcock, who is also a street artist.

Various artists from around the world (Japan, Australia, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, England) came on board producing what I think is an amazing set of artworks; which communicate a poignant message.

The campaign has been supported by WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) along with the elephant nature park and rescue foundation.

My kudos to all of those involved!!

Click on each image and take a closer look...

The GritHouse Presents…

2009-04-09T08:15:00.010+10:00

GritFX filmmaker and resident movie nut Will Thame (aka Wadrick Jones) has uploaded a new short film to The GritHouse – The GritFX YouTube Channel. Will’s new short animation, entitled “The Rookie – Part One” (Part Two will be complete in a week or two, according to Will), is basically an ode to (or a plagiarism of) every cop film ever made - only this time animated in Lego!

Watch it now at The GritHouse. For all of you lazy bastards who can’t be bothered visiting The GritHouse, here’s an embedded file.

Will has also updated The GritHouse to include playlists associated with Decoy Spoon’s music reviews and Wadrick’s film reviews. If you wish to check out any music videos of the artists Decoy reviews, or watch any trailers/scenes from films reviewed by Wadrick, The GritHouse is your baby.

The Black Death Revisited

2009-04-04T15:09:00.007+11:00

A few weeks ago, the story broke on a number of alternative news websites regarding the contamination of flu vaccine, which was sent to numerous countries in Europe. A sub-contractor in the Czech Republic discovered the ‘glitch’ when ferrets injected with what was believed to be a regular flu vaccine died, which should not happen. It was then revealed that Baxter Pharmaceuticals in Austria had somehow mixed live H5N1 virus (otherwise known as the human form of “avian flu” or “bird flu”) with H5N3 - the human flu virus. However, they maintained that none of the contaminated vaccines reached the public.

As many online researchers pointed out, this was a mistake that should not have happened. All laboratories dealing with infectious agents adhere to certain biosafety protocols that prevent the contamination of one virus by another, especially when the viruses are not in the same classification. Anyone who has read The Hot Zone or seen the film Outbreak would be well aware of this. The idea that this could happen in a major pharmaceutical companies’ lab is unthinkable and downright frightening. Representatives from Baxter have shrugged the incident aside, stating in no uncertain terms that it was ‘just one of those things’. And whilst the European media have covered the story to some degree (with the most vehement criticism coming from the Czech’s), the story has received no attention by the American corporate media.

H5N1 is not easily transmitted between humans but it is extremely virulent. 60% of all recorded cases of “bird flu” in humans have resulted in death, but only through contact with infected poultry and the like. H5N3, as we all know, is highly contagious, and many have pointed out in great detail how a mix of these two viruses could have created a new strain contracted like the common flu. This process, known as “re-assortment”, would of course have had the potential to provoke a pandemic of global magnitude. For Baxter to, as one researcher put it, essentially offer the excuse of “oops!” in regards this incident is unconscionable.

Vaccines have a long history of contamination. There is growing evidence that certain vaccines are responsible for the growth of a number of diseases and illnesses throughout the 20th century. Some time ago, information revealed that polio vaccines administered to millions of people, beginning in 1955, were contaminated with the simian virus SV-40. Due to the success of the polio vaccine, when it was discovered that SV-40 caused cancer in animals (and indeed in humans), the information was not brought to the attention of the public and inoculation programs continued. It is now an established fact that SV-40 hides in DNA, and can be passed down through generations. Many believe this is the root cause of the astronomical rise in all forms of cancer in the last fifty years.

One of the more radical theories regarding vaccine contamination concerns HIV/AIDS. In the late 1970s, the World Health Organization advertised for homosexual men in New York and San Francisco to take part in an inoculation program using an experimental vaccine for the prevention of hepatitis. At the same time, the WHO conducted an identical trial on the African continent. A few years later, the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported amongst gay men in New York and San Francisco, and then in the populations of Africa, bringing the disease to worldwide attention. Originally, HIV/AIDS was considered the “gay disease” as nearly all cases were confined to the homosexual community. To some researchers, this is a clear indication that the hepatitis vaccine administered by the WHO in the 1970s was tainted with the virus. Many claim HIV/AIDS was created in a laboratory, whilst others, feeling the ill content of that theory, believe HIV/AIDS occurs naturally in monkeys but was deliberately inserted into the WHO’s vaccines. The established doctrine of the cross-species contamination and subsequent spread of the virus is, admittedly, flimsy at best.

But why would an organization such as the WHO or a pharmaceutical company want to willing infect people with life-threatening disease? Aside from monetary gain, conspiracy researchers point to a long-held belief in a true ruling elite (the mega-wealthy of this world), apart from government and superseding it, with an agenda of global population reduction. There is much circumstantial evidence for this belief, that a ‘new world order’ is being driven into acceptance through various orchestrated incidents that serve the interests of the few. A new world order in this sense refers to a ruling elite and servile population of one class, not too far removed from certain kingdoms and empires of antiquity. With this comes the idea of culling the human species to a more acceptable and eco-friendly size. The question arises then as to whether the recent vaccine contamination by Baxter Pharmaceuticals was a deliberate effort to kick-start this agenda? Or was it, as Baxter maintains, simply a matter of human error?

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

Sources:
http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/live-avian-flu-virus-placed-in-baxter-vaccine-materials-sent-to-18-countries/

http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog/_archives/2009/3/6/4113594.html

Read: “In The Name Of Science” by Andrew Goliszek

Happy Birthday To Us!

2009-04-01T16:13:00.004+11:00

GritFX is officially one year old today! Can’t believe it? Nah, neither can we. To celebrate this “momentous” event, we are giving one lucky GritBlog reader the chance to win $10,000 cash! The first caller through on the Toll Free number listed below will win the prize!

OK…that was just a lame attempt at an April Fool’s Day gag. There is no ten grand and no Toll Free number. But we are one year old today – that is no joke. We would dearly love to thank all our loyal readers and community members of the GritBlog, those who have left comments for our writers, those who have entered our competitions and those who have purchased one of our T-Shirts. We’d be nothing without you guys, so thanks a bunch!

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-03-30T17:03:00.010+11:00

Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See (1993)

Mazzy Star are one of those bands that have a shadowy little corner of music history all to themselves. I imagine they’re still recruiting fans with their slow, sexy, scuzzed-up sound. They were never a popular band as such, but they were a serious cult band. And those bands just keep growing in status long after their official life is over. They were a little bit Velvet Underground, a little bit country, a little bit bluesy, a little bit folkie, a little bit gothic, a little bit psychedelic. But they blurred it all in to their own mix with songs of defeat and regret. They sounded loose and sad and listless and scarred. They sounded dreamily distant yet nakedly intimate. Out on the horizon, and under the bed-sheets. They sounded depressed but full of love. And it seemed perfectly fitting the singers name should be Hope. Because Hope Sandoval was the perfect siren for these songs—all she needed was a tambourine and a whisper, and you were hypnotised. And David Roback had the perfect plaintive guitar style. It was a seamless blend that chased away the light and revelled in the darkness that housed songs like: “Mary of Silence”, “Five String Serenade” and “Blue Light”. They enjoyed some success with the single “Fade Into You”, and it’s a great opener and sets the tone for the rest of the album—sleepy and stark and dusty and droney. And their shy influence is still recognisable in the music of Cat Power, Smog, Feist, Sparklehorse, and many other contemporary folkies, downtempo electronica and lo-fi indie rockers. Their albums are still great to listen to because their playing was timeless and seemed to exist outside the grunge parameters of the early 90s. They may have used feedback and distorted guitars, but in a totally different way to, say, Sonic Youth or Pearl Jam. And yet it was an album you frequently spotted in the collections of many grunge fans. Who would’ve thought that sunny California could produce a band that solemnly serenaded late night excursions into the jet-black void?

William Orbit - Hello Waveforms (2006)

I’m not a real big Madonna fan, and one of William Orbit’s big claims to fame is his involvement with her acclaimed 1998 album Ray of Light. And long before that, he was quietly producing a series of albums that were plotting icy courses through the techno-whiteout of minimal 80s ambient electronica. I’d never heard of him when I came across this album, but I liked the cover, so I gave it a listen. And I’m glad I did, because this album has become one of my favourites when I’m in the mood for some mood music. It reminded me of Air, in their Moon Safari era. From the first song, “Sea Green”, this album sets a tone of synthetic tranquillity and spacey ambience, which I’m a sucker for. And things just kept getting better with the delicate twinkling of “Humming Chorus” and the faux-theremin weave of “Surfin’”. By the time it got to “You Know Too Much About Flying Saucers” with its ticking starbursts of guitar and vibes trailing through a cosy cosmos, I was proclaiming this one of the best albums I’d heard in years (NB: I’m always doing that though). Then came “Spiral” with the first (and pretty much last) taste of vocals on the album. The vocals are supplied by Kenna and the Sugababes and they marry beautifully—never breaking the stride of the album. The lyrics are nothing special, but you don’t really listen to the words. When the chorus comes: ‘Nothing’s really sane but everything’s amazing’, things could be getting a bit new-agey, but when Kenna sings: ‘Oh, the ground beneath us trembles and we fall’, the melody is enough to lift you away from any silly notions like definitive meaning - who cares what they’re going on about, lets go visit Jupiter! The earthiness of hearing voices actually punctuates the album nicely in the middle, and you soon go back into orbit (I guess, literally) to enjoy the rest of the ride with the primarily instrumental “Who Owns the Octopus?”. And it’s nice to hear the odd voice (whether real or vocoder) throughout the remaining songs with “Oooh’s” and “Aaah’s” reminding you this is, and you are, still human after all.

Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (1981)

As a typical 80s kid, when I think of Grace Jones I think of the films A View to a Kill and Conan the Destroyer, and I remember thinking she was somewhere between sexy and scary. (Some 80s kids may even remember Vamp, but maybe not as many.) She was a striking presence on the screen, and she made a cool Bond villain and a cool sidekick to Arnie. But before her venture into film, she was making strides into the burgeoning disco scene in New York with albums like Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978) and Muse (1979). Despite a cult following among the gay community and the discophiles, the Jamaican model turned singer couldn’t really find a wider market for her brand of dance music. Her voice didn’t really suit straight disco. Then in 1980 she teamed up with (Island Records founder) Chris Blackwell and produced Warm Leatherette, which was a step in a new direction. Taking inspiration from New York’s new wave scene, and the flexibility of reggae, she channelled covers of songs by Roxy Music, Smokey Robinson, The Pretenders and Tom Petty with a sharp androgynous clamour that made people stop and take notice. This was weird, but kinda cool. And when she followed up with Nightclubbing, it finally showcased her strengths and skills as a vocalist and performer. This is a great record. “Walking in the Rain” comes creeping out of the silence, walking you down the dark wet streets of some desolate sci-fi burg, where people who look like Grace populate the local haunts and sell mysteries by the pound. I saw the clip of this song on Rage in the wee-hours one night, and I’ve been hooked on her music ever since. I couldn’t take my eyes or ears off her. The album is full of 80s synthesisers and robotic neo-disco beats, and its amazing how the phrasing of her deep voice sits on top and makes it all sound fresh and contemporary. The moment she sings a note - there is instant atmosphere. She leads you through these strange cyber-noir narratives like a private-dick reporting on her cases. It’s no wonder Roman Polanski used - her moody re-imagining of Ástor Piazzolla’s Argetinian classic - “I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)” in the film Frantic, because it sounds like a cinematic thriller in itself. With the brave invention and impressive performances Grace Jones found a musical identity that was, and remains, completely original.

By Decoy Spoon

If you want to hear/see any of the music reviewed by Decoy, visit the GritHouse – the GritFX YouTube Channel – and check out Decoy’s Playlist of music videos.

I Am The Lizard King!

2009-03-29T09:15:00.005+11:00

"I Am The Lizard King!" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

So there he was. Basking in the sunlight, a typical garden skink, no more than twenty centimetres in length. I ran inside to get the camera and when I got back to the garden, he hadn’t moved. But I only had one chance to take a shot – as soon as the shutter stirred the little lizard scurried away into the bushes.

Jonesy, my oldest cat, sat nearby the whole time, watching me in bewilderment. It wasn’t until the skink moved after I took the photograph that Jonesy finally realised what was going on. He leapt into the garden and spent the next two hours fossicking for the lizard. He never caught it.

Later, I returned outside and found Jonesy asleep in the garden bed. He seemed exhausted. I keep telling him to let the ecology do its thing – that all little creatures have a purpose. But he just can’t help himself with those lizards.

Click on the image for a larger version.

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-03-26T09:29:00.009+11:00

Smokin’ Aces (2007)
Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Nestor Carbonell, Taraji P. Henson, Matthew Fox.
Written & Directed by Joe Carnahan.

Buddy “Aces” Israel (Piven) is a Las Vegas performer, now holed up in a Lake Tahoe hotel penthouse surrounded by hookers and cocaine. Having split a Vegas crime family in two when he decided to begin his own capers, Israel has acquired a sizable bounty on his head due to his knowledge of the Mob’s inner-workings. As his lawyer negotiates terms with the FBI, a gaggle of low-life’s descend on Israel’s hotel to blow his brains out and collect the reward. Caught in the middle are two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) who have no idea of the tumult to which they are about to become a part. Smokin’ Aces is another one of those Pulp Fiction-esque multiple character and plenty of guns and ammo kinds of thing – enjoyable to a point, yet ultimately derivative and forgettable. It suffers from overlength, a ridiculous ending and some annoyingly overblown characterisations, yet having said that, some of the performances are genuinely great (Bateman is hilarious) and the script, for the most part, is rather taut and amusing. So there is much to admire in Smokin’ Aces, but I dare say it wouldn’t win a hand against its influences.

Die Hard 4.0 (2008)
Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maggie Q and Kevin Smith.
Written by Mark Bomback.
Directed by Len Wiseman.

Ahh, John McClane. If there are terrorists about, he’s the guy you call. Even if you don’t call him, you can bet you’ll find him in the thick of the action by default. So when an older, but no less ass-kickin’ McClane is assigned one night to transport a young computer hacker named Matthew Farrell (Long) across town, bad guys are naturally waiting in the darkness to take them down. Before long, it is revealed that a disgruntled former employee of the NSA is using his knowledge to stage a ‘fire sale’, whereby all industry connected by computer is seized and under his control. Farrell is marked for he knows the score, and it’s now up to this young sidekick and the grizzled McClane to put a stop to the dastardly plan. OK, so we didn’t need another Die Hard film, and the Australian distributors needn’t have changed the name either from the superior US title Live Free Or Die Hard (what were they thinking?). But who cares? This is the kind of escapism that Hollywood does so well. A decent supporting cast lends plentiful villainy and humour, the action scenes are wonderfully handled by director Wiseman (Underworld) and whilst credibility slips on occasion, it’s tough not to enjoy watching Willis in the character he has, since 1988, totally owned.

Shoot ‘Em Up (2008)
Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci, Stephen McHattie.
Written & Directed by Michael Davis.

The enigmatic Mr Smith (Owen) saves an infant after her mother is gunned down. Mr Smith (not to be confused with the Brad Pitt character of the same name) obviously has some experience with guns, and when he takes it on the lam from a ruthless thug named Hertz (Giamatti) with the baby and a lactating hooker named Donna (Bellucci) in tow, he has plenty of opportunity to showcase his talent. With these two lead actors and Monica’s breasts, you’d think that this would be a winning combination. And you’d be right…and wrong. For this silly movie is not only aware of its audaciously indulgent nature, it revels in it with crazy gunfight after crazy gunfight. But too much rollercoaster and not enough ferris wheel can make one giddy. Giamatti serves up his most outrageous performance to date, chewing the scenery and stealing the show. Owen gives us his brooding Sin City thing and Bellucci has nothing to do except look sexy (which would, frankly, usually be enough).

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and posts weekly film reviews on this blog.)

Idology T-Shirts – the Unofficial Idol Fan T-Shirt Store!

2009-03-25T12:04:00.004+11:00

I have been busy working with Idol Man (not his real name) over the last few weeks designing merchandise for Idology T-Shirts – the Unofficial Idol Fan T-Shirt Store. I have created, along with Idol Man, well over fifty designs for T-Shirts, bags and flair. These are now available for purchase from the store, with more designs to become available in the coming weeks. So if you are an American Idol fanatic, you are going to want to get your hands on this stuff (even if I do say so myself). You won’t find a larger range of Idol fan gear anywhere on the internet – a bold statement to be sure, but one that (I think) is actually true!

Below are some designs that I helped put together:

Sarver Flavor
Grab some Sarver Flavor...Traditional Homemade Recipe...Product of Texas...Quality Guaranteed!

Allison: Rocker Girl
Allison - Rocker Girl..! Show your support with this grungy design.

Ryan: Host With The Most

BUTTONS and BAGS

If you’re an American Idol Fan, don’t forget to visit Idology T-Shirts.

Happy Days!!

2009-03-21T10:21:00.005+11:00

"Happy Days!" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

For anyone who read my Camera Critter post "Fare ye well, young Frederick…" you will know about Fred and how we had to surrender him to the RSPCA. I have missed the little guy immensely. However, the absolute positive result is watching Ella and Jonesy comfortable in their environment once again.

After a decent play, Jonesy has crashed out on the grass (he's the blur in the background), however Ella still wants to play and scans the garden beds for any sign of movement! I thought that this sight just had to be captured for posterity....

After a few shutter clicks, Jonesy became aware of the attention that Ella was apparently being showered with and slowly got to his feet and came over to me. At this point, David then demanded the camera to capture some beauty shots of our little "precious".

Click on the image for a larger version.

Update on the Latest GritFX Competition Winner...

2009-03-21T09:27:00.007+11:00

On the 2nd of March, Wayne John was announced as the winner of "Guess the Number of Jelly Beans in the Jar" competition with a guess of 834 - one off the exact number! Wayne has since selected his prize and has posted a contest thankyou video which we'd like to share with you all.

Visit Blogger Help and Assistance to read Wayne's post.

And here is an embedded video file:

Wayne chose the "Agent Provocateur" design.

Note: At one point in the video, Wayne pulls out the Cafepress flyer... to be clear, Cafepress are just a Print-On-Demand (POD) supplier we (GritFX) use for our Mother Store* which offers all of our designs on various shirts.

Our Sister Store is operated through another POD - Zazzle - and has a selection of designs available on a retro apparel range.

There's a love-hate relationship here... any POD we use profits from any one of our shirt sales, yet we wouldn't be able to offer what we do without them! Our long term goal is to have complete control and do our own screen printing.

* UPDATE: GritFX have since re-evaluated our relationship with Cafepress and no longer use them as our primary print-on-demand supplier.

ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU TO ALL OUR COMPETITION PARTICIPANTS.

Check out previous competition winners on the GritFX Website.

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-03-19T13:12:00.006+11:00

Sade - The Best of Sade (1994)

Best Ofs can be strange things. Sometimes they’re a great way of road-testing an artist/band. Sometimes the hits are all you want. Other times you’d be better served avoiding them altogether, and seeking out a particular album. Some bands are defined by their hits (eg: Abba), while others are completely misrepresented by them (eg: Genesis). Whatever the case, this was the first thing I ever got of hers/theirs (Sade is the band, Sade Adu is the singer), so I’m recommending it, because it made me eventually seek out their studio albums. And you know what? They’re all great. But really, all you need is the Best Of. Sade’s greatest quality is their consistency. Their stuff all sounds the same. And that’s a good thing. It sounds like one big fluid song. Don’t get me wrong, there is variety in their music. I mean, what do you call their music? Soul, R&B, Latin, Funk, Soft Rock? Easy Listening? Quiet Storm? (Is that really a genre?) I don’t know, but they manage to take a formula that you’d think could be a bit generic and make it sound interesting, and uniquely their own. So I’m fine with calling it Jazz. Because Sade Adu sings the way Miles Davis played his horn. Believe it. Pure, direct, soulful, unadorned, exacting, heart wrenching. She avoids the overdone vocal gymnastics that is industry standard these days and keeps things lean and understated. And the band skillfully create ‘moods’ more than ‘songs’ for her to float through. “Pearls” is a good example of this. The strings and (Angelo Badalamenti-esque) keyboards dawn over silence, and her vocal is so measured, simply serving the melody and the narrative, that when she hits the lyric ‘She lives in a world she didn’t choose/And it hurts like brand new shoes’, it’s a truly moving moment. And their music is full of these letter-perfect moments. Songs like: “Jezebel”, “Like a Tattoo”, “Cherish the Day”, “Paradise” and “Love is Stronger than Pride” are truly captivating. Great late night music. (Great day time music too.)

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (2005)

Scottish brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin had been producing electronic music together since the late 80s before signing to the Warp label and releasing their (un)official debut Music Has The Right To Children in 1998. And they took the electronic music world by storm. Part electronica, part ambient, part post-rock; they appealed to many pockets of music fans with their signature retro-contemporary sound. The eagerly awaited follow-up Geogaddi (2002) - an epic album of 23 shrouded songs - darkened up the proceedings and stretched the electronic boundaries even further. People were on the net publishing their detailed analyses of this loaded work. Backmasking; the Occult; Branch Davidians; numerology; humans Vs God Vs nature - it certainly stirred up the fanbase. Three years later they gave us this, their 3rd album, The Campfire Headphase. The album was another underground event in the electronica sphere. The mysterious brothers - who rarely perform shows or give interviews - produced another aural feast that is simply stunning to listen to. Their electronic brew of styles induces a sort of synesthesia that slows time as the music pours over you, and by the time you’re 3 or 4 songs into it, you’re happily immersed. It has that power. Best to just sit back and enjoy the ride. All their albums get better with every listen. They’re like sonic adventures. You find new details in the far reaches of their songs. As if they’re somehow recording the internal soundtrack to their childhood memories, half of it seems real, and the other half is imagined. Also, the song “Dayvan Cowboy” became the first BoC song to spawn a film-clip. And it’s great - merging footage of Joseph Kittinger’s incredible plummet through the atmosphere, and then morphing out of the ocean as a big wave surfer. This perfectly suited the spacey yet earthly nature of this majestic music.

Check it out in Decoy’s Playlist at The GritHouse.

The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976)

‘One, two, three, four, five, six…’ This is one of my favourite albums. Jonathan Richman is - I think, still - supremely underrated as a precursor to punk and the post-punk/indie scene that emerged throughout the 80s. He was writing and recording these songs as far back as 1971 before they saw the light of day in 1976 when the band was already dissolving (keyboardist Jerry Harrison would go on to ply his skills on guitar in Talking Heads; other band members went on to form/play with Real Kids and The Cars). Jonathan Richman’s ability to knock out these songs with a loose lazy humour made it seem kinda rudimentary and throw-away, (which it kinda is), but there is much passion to be found here. The classic opener “Roadrunner”, bursts out of the starting blocks, displaying his love of The Velvet Underground, and his attempt at writing a “Sister Ray” dirge. And “Pablo Picasso” is another great example of Richman’s droll sense of humour and singular lyricism ‘He could walk down the street and girls could not resist to stare and so, Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole’. “Old World” is one of my big faves, with lyrics like: ‘I wanna keep my place in the old world/And keep my place in the arcane/Coz I, still have parents/And I still love the old world’. There was nothing pretentious. This was just a kid from Boston who wanted to rock-out like his heroes The Velvet Underground and make some noise and have some fun. So he wrote songs about what he knew - and his lyrics just shine in songs like: “I’m Straight”, “Government Center”, “Dignified and Old”. Another fave is “Girlfriend” which begins with: ‘If I were to walk through the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston/Well first I’d go to the room where they keep the Cezanne/But if I had by my side a girlfriend/Well then I could look through the paintings/I could look right through them/Because I’d have found something that I understand/I understand a girlfriend’, and the innocence that pours out may be ironic but its a heartfelt irony, and typified with the chorus of ‘That’s a girlfriend/That’s a G-i-r-l-f-r-e-n/That’s a girlfriend/That’s something I understand’. I find it hard to talk about this album without gushing superlatives, but if you haven’t heard this album, all I can say is: Go get it. This is a life-changer. You’ll wanna start your own band - all it takes is a couple of chords and a Jonathan Richman. The chords are the easy part - finding another Jonathan Richman is the hard part. He’s a one off.

By Decoy Spoon

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1980s)

2009-03-17T17:11:00.006+11:00

Salvador (1986)
James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, Elpedia Carrillo & John Savage.
Written by Oliver Stone & Richard Boyle.
Directed by Oliver Stone.

Richard Boyle (Woods) is a sleazy, unemployed photojournalist who, with nothing to lose, heads to El Salvador in Central America with his best friend Dr Rock (Belushi) in tow. It is 1980, and El Salvador is in the grip of a vicious civil war that has claimed the lives of many thousands of civilians through US-aligned death squads. This is the perfect setting for the indulgent Boyle – a chance to redeem his career and in the process, save his own soul. Followed in the same year by Platoon, Stone’s Salvador packs a wallop, hurtling the viewer into the chaos of a country torn apart by bloodshed. It is also a deeply affecting personal drama, anchored by an astounding performance from Woods and afforded equally impressive support from Belushi. Based on the true story of co-writer Boyle’s experiences in Central America, this intelligent and gripping film is as pertinent today as it was in its year of release. One of Stone’s best films that sits proudly alongside the director’s masterpiece JFK.

Midnight Run (1988)
Robert DeNiro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Farina, John Aston & Joe Pantoliano.
Written by George Gallo.
Directed by Martin Brest.

When an embezzling Mob accountant (Grodin) skips bail, it’s up to a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking bounty hunter (DeNiro) to find him and transport him from New York to LA. But that ain’t as easy as it sounds. With two idiotic Mob cronies, the FBI and a fellow bounty hunter hot on their trail, the mismatched pair must essentially join forces to make it to California alive. This crackerjack action comedy was one of the funniest films of the decade, combining hilarious dialogue with rough and tumble action scenes. Following on from the success of 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop, director Martin Brest delivers one of his best films with the superlative casting of the two leads providing much of the films’ joy. Featuring a talented supporting cast including the brilliant character actor Kotto and Beverly’s own Ashton, Midnight Run is two hours of pure escapist fun.

Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
Directed by Godfrey Reggio.

If you have never seen Koyaanisqatsi, you have missed one of the most unique film experiences in cinema history. Once you see Koyaanisqatsi, you will never view the world the same again. It is nigh on impossible to describe this film - there is no plot and no characters. It spans the United States providing astounding images of nature juxtaposed with the industrial world. Shot almost thirty years ago, its imagery oftentimes belongs to a disappeared era, yet the raw powers of the visuals are overwhelmingly relevant no matter how you slice it. From the sheer beauty of the sky and ocean, to the dilapidated shells of inner city slums, Koyaanisqatsi sweeps across vistas in a ninety-minute ode to a ‘life out of balance’, all set to a magical score by composer Philip Glass. Imitated by the inferior Baraka (1993), Koyaanisqatsi is an almost psychedelic trip through nature and a powerful treatise on humanity’s inability to successfully co-exist with its surroundings.

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and posts weekly film reviews on this blog.)

One More Patsy For The Road?

2009-03-16T16:29:00.006+11:00

In the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in the early hours of June 6th 1968, Robert F Kennedy was shot and killed. Kennedy had just delivered a victory speech after having won the Democratic presidential primary in California, and moving with a throng of well-wishers, security and hotel staff, was confronted by his alleged assassin, a young Palestinian-American named Sirhan Sirhan. Although Sirhan confessed to the crime, he could remember no details of the event even when subjected to hypnosis. Recent information by a number of online researchers has raised some serious questions as to the validity of Sirhans’ guilt.

According to Sirhans’ brother Munir, and consistent with the revelations of family members and friends of other supposed “patsies”, it was perplexing that Sirhan could even have committed the crime. When Sirhan’s family arrived in the United States from Palestine in 1957, Sirhan did his best to assimilate into society, becoming a conscientious student who dreamed of becoming a UN interpreter to promote world peace – a somewhat naïve dream in the face of world events at the time. However, as told by Munir, Sirhan also held a deep fascination with the occult, particularly hypnosis and mind control. In an interview for an article by Carl Kozlowski of the Pasadena Weekly in 2006, Munir stated it was his belief that Sirhan had fallen victim to the infamous MKULTRA program.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the CIA developed MKULTRA to study the effects of certain drugs and techniques to control the minds of ordinary civilians. The idea was to master the “art” of brainwashing and hence be able to direct mind-controlled slaves to do the Agency’s bidding. Agents scoured universities and other locales to recruit potential subjects, and some believe that Sirhan was one of those recruited. As Kozlowski points out in his article, the fact is not whether MKULTRA existed, but whether any successful methods or techniques were actually applied in an operational sense, in or outside the United States. Although officially closed down in the late 1960s, it has been suggested by some researchers that the program continued unofficially beneath the guise of other projects.

It was reported by at least four eyewitnesses in the Ambassador Hotel the night Kennedy was shot, that Sirhan had been standing in the kitchen with a woman “in a white dress with black polka dots”. One witness reported seeing Sirhan laughing and talking with this woman as Kennedy entered the kitchen. She then whispered something in his ear at which time Sirhans’ face turned blank, he approached Kennedy and fired his pistol. The woman moved away immediately. Sirhan was then tackled to the ground, Kennedy lay dying and the case seemed clear-cut. But from the actions of the woman reportedly seen, it appeared as though she had offered Sirhan a ‘trigger’ word or phrase, initiating the mind control. Whilst this may read like the bones of a Hollywood thriller, it would be remiss to not account for the factual existence of MKULTRA and its techniques and objectives.

It was alleged that Sirhan fired eight shots from a gun that could only hold five bullets, and it is extremely doubtful that he would have time to reload the pistol. However, this point is one of some conjecture, with different reports detailing differing specifics in regards the firearm. What is not in disagreement are the number of bullet holes found in the kitchen walls, ceiling and doorframes – 28 in total. Kennedy was struck three times, a fourth bullet grazed him, whilst six other people were also injured. The excessive number of bullet holes were never fully investigated by the LAPD and in addition, almost 3,000 photographs of the crime scene taken before and after the event (and perhaps during) were somehow lost or destroyed by the LAPD in the years before the mandated release of all information pertaining to the assassination in 1988. Like the assassination of his brother, some researchers envision a parallel here – that being a second or even third shooter involved, with Sirhan a manipulated, mind-controlled patsy.

The most damning evidence regarding a second gunman has been revealed by RFK’s autopsy report. The fatal wound came from a shot to the back of the head that displayed evidence of powder burns. This evidence and the trajectory suggested the gun had literally been pressed against the back of Kennedy’s head by someone perhaps crouched behind him. Two other wounds were also found in Kennedy’s back, with the same trajectory and powder burn evidence. Every eyewitness to the shooting has maintained that Sirhan approached and shot Kennedy from the front and from at least one foot away. However, there is no known photograph of the actual shooting which would no doubt paint a clear picture of the assassination.

In a failed attempt to win a new trial in the 1990s, Sirhans’ defense enlisted the help of the world’s leading authority on hypnosis, Dr Herbert Spiegel, but the psychiatrist was refused a new examination of Sirhan. In the original trial, Sirhans’ defense did not raise the subject of hypnosis even though a court-appointed psychiatrist had deemed him “highly hypnotisable”. According to Spiegel, at least 80% of the population can be hypnotised to some degree, and Sirhan was revealed to be in the top ten percent. Yet, his original trial team merely said he was “psychotic and schizophrenic” – a claim that was not accepted by the jury. But even under hypnosis, Sirhan could remember nothing prior to, during or after the assassination and this is a clear expression to some of the footprint of MKULTRA.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

Some researchers have gone so far as to name the perpetrators of the assassination of RFK, and a former CIA agent has identified (from available TV and other footage) three known agents inexplicably present at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of June 6th, 1968. Read more at:

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/pandora/rfk.html

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CAR20061122&articleId=3947

For more on MKULTRA, read the book by John Marks:
The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-03-14T17:24:00.004+11:00

"Happy St. Patricks Day!" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

I know it's a little early...
However, in a few days a number of people across the globe with Irish heritage will be donning green in the name of St. Patricks Day. So for all of you, here is a little piece of green from Down Under!

These tiny frogs were photographed on Dave's parents farm, 500km north of Sydney. A number of them showed their little faces after a nice rainfall. They were tiny, around the size of your thumb. I only had a standard lens with me, and this was pre-digital. I imagine the results would be a great deal better if I were to shoot them today, armed with my digital SLR. I still think that they are good enough to share in celebration of St. Pats. Day.

Before I leave you, I'd like to give a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" shout out to one of our loyal readers (Shea) to pass onto his daughter - whose birthday is on St Patricks Day!!

Click on the image for a larger version.

American Idol T-Shirt Design

2009-03-13T17:54:00.006+11:00

It's that time of year again - American Idol time!

This year a friend of mine decided to set up a T-Shirt shop completely dedicated to fan shirts for American Idol Season 8, Idology Tees. Last year I created a number of designs for David Cook fans - yes I'm a self confessed Cook fan - so this year my friend asked me if I could help him out with some new designs for the 2009 contestants.

After "COOK" took over my life for a chunk of last year, I hadn't planned on doing any designs this year. Last year I found myself rising before the sun to answer email enquiries with regards to the personalization offer we had running; which completely destroyed my sleeping habits!! But hey, I loved doing the COOK designs, so how could I say no to this request.

We've been working on the shop, and plan to grow the range as the show airs and as we have time to design - we have "day jobs" we can't quit!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you one of the designs that I created for the shop. Doing this one took me back to Uni where I had a completely open design brief!

If you're an Idol fan, please take the time to check out Idology Tees.

This friend of mine, who is going by the username "Idol Man" is also "blogging" about the show with a squidoo lens. I could be biased, but I like his point of view.

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-03-09T08:44:00.008+11:00

Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Robert Joy, Kristen Hager.
Written by Shane Salerno.
Directed by The Brothers Strause.

Oh, what could have been. The first film in this potentially never-ending series, Alien Vs Predator (2004), was brimming with great concepts, but was unfortunately undone by poor writing and an unqualified cast attempting to vitalise their underdeveloped roles. This sequel is simply a by-the-numbers cash-in, offering nothing more than yet another chance to lay eyes on two of the greatest screen monsters of modern cinema. But why bother? Why don’t we just watch James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) or John McTiernan’s Predator (1987) instead? Requiem follows on from the first film, where an Alien had gestated inside a Predator on board their spacecraft, forming a new species – the ludicrously titled Predalien. Crashing on Earth, the Predalien and its kin begin to devour the inhabitants of a small Colorado town, until a Predator warrior arrives to clean up the mess. Not much better in the writing department, this sequel limps along with the standard clichés and contempt for its audience. Eye candy is one thing, but if you can’t couple the visuals with a decent story then you are just wasting everyone’s time.

Transformers (2007)
Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, & Jon Voight.
Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman.
Directed by Michael Bay.

Anyone going into a Michael Bay film knows what to expect – overblown trash. Crappy dialogue, caricatures instead of characters, explosions, gunfire, soaring Hollywood strings and as many helicopter and crane shots as you can squeeze into two hours. Transformers were toys I never possessed as a child. It all seemed a tad ridiculous, these organic robots that could morph into trucks and cars and who knows what else. The film itself is equally ridiculous with a convoluted story involving these robots and their dying planet, some energy cube called the “All Spark” and the usual fate of the world scenario. Throw in some human characters for the robots to converse with and you’ve got the most inane film experience since Armageddon. The film would be appealing to the sensibilities of small children yet seems too mature in its execution to be suitable for a child. It’s impossible to take this film seriously, and even though the actors all seem to understand this factor, the filmmakers themselves cannot help but demonstrate the opposite at times. Those who had Transformer toys alongside their Star Wars action figures back in the 1980s might find some worth here. Others beware.

Quantum of Solace (2008)
Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Gianni & Judi Dench.
Written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade.
Directed by Marc Forster.

Even though I have seen my fair share of James Bond films, I was never really a fan of 007. That all changed with the 2006 release of Casino Royale. The new Bond, played with vigour by Daniel Craig, was still his suave self, but he no longer seemed invincible and was even fallible. The new vision of Bond continues with Quantum of Solace, however the film is a royal mess. Feeling like a ‘bridging’ film to another sequel, Quantum is one action scene after another, held together by a tenuous plot. Beginning almost immediately after Casino finished, Bond is hell-bent on exposing the tentacles of a shadowy organization that has managed to elude the attention of MI6. He then joins forces with a mysterious woman who has her own agenda. This film is as slick as you would expect, but suffers from a supporting cast that have next to nothing to do. Kurylenko is a dull Bond girl and her predecessor Eva Green is sorely missed here. There are many questions that will no doubt be answered by a third film, but Quantum of Solace fails to shake or stir.

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and posts weekly film reviews on this blog.)

Fare ye well, young Frederick…

2009-03-08T10:18:00.003+11:00

"Fare ye well, young Frederick" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

For the last three months, a stray cat has been loitering around the studio. Being out in a rural area, I see stray cats from time to time, mostly feral and scavenging for food. But this little guy, affectionately named “Fred” (or “Freddy” or “Frederick” or “Federico” – however the mood struck me), was recognisably different from the rest. He didn’t seem as mangy as the standard feral and my suspicion was that he was dumped out here as a young kitten and forced to fend for himself.

He was quickly shown the lay of the land by our oldest cat, Jonesy. This lad is a big puss, and even though he is incredibly generous with his territory, Jonesy still likes to make it clear who is the boss. So Fred never became hostile towards my two cats because of his fracas with the Jones, and settled into a mutually considerate existence on the back deck. But whilst he may have been friendly with Jonesy, my little girl Ella never cared for Fred and would avoid any areas where he lay. I also think that perhaps Jonesy was merely tolerating Fred…

It took me some time to arrive at the point where Fred would trust me enough to allow me to handle him. When I finally did, the affection he displayed towards a simple stroke of the back was extremely touching. He had obviously never felt the kind hand of a human. Soon though, he became exceedingly demanding, clawing at the back door for his breakfast and dinner. I think he learnt some bad habits from Jonesy!

To cut a long story short, I had to make a tough decision and surrender him to the RSPCA. The bottom line was that Jonesy and Ella have a special bond that was disrupted by the introduction of Fred, and my consideration had to lie with my two beloved babies. Since Fred departed last week, Ella has been much happier and she and Jonesy have begun to play again – something they hadn’t really done during the past three months. Hopefully, Fred will find a new home with loving ‘parents’ who will give him all the affection he craves.

Click on the image for a larger version.

GritFX Competition Winner... of "Guess the Number of Jelly Beans in the Jar"

2009-03-02T17:07:00.009+11:00

Wayne John, author of Blogger Help and Assistance is the winner of the "Guess the Number of Jelly Beans in the Jar" competition with a guess of 834 - one off the exact number - congratulations Wayne!

Wayne chose the "Agent Provocateur" design.

(We hope to get a photo of him in it to share with you all...)

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR PARTICIPANTS:
333 - Shea - The Hidden World
1,000 - Bill Donovan - Ink Stained Hands
834 - Wayne John - Blogger Help And Assistance
150 - Jim (aka The Movie Whore) - The Movie Whore
647 - Morgan Cote (Fan on Facebook)
582 - Mitsy Parton (Fan on Facebook)
476 - Lisa Bemmes (Fan on Facebook)
821 - Jody M Jordan (Fan on Facebook)
777 - Tara Pannone Hage (Fan on Facebook)
659 - Colleen Sutcliffe (Fan on Facebook)
783 - Becky Hahn (Fan on Facebook)
263 - Chelsea Weaver (Fan on Facebook)
217 - Adam Roland Evan Roberts (Fan on Facebook)
565 - Chelsey Wells (Fan on Facebook)
869 - Sherrie Hunt - E-Motion Blog + E-Motion Cards Website
720 - Shannon Orell-Bast (Fan on Facebook)
820 - Dawn Haskew Leach (Fan on Facebook)
1,000 - Charlie Johnson - Graphic Design Blog
565 - Pam - Fun T-shirts
825 - Jack Webb (c/o Felicity) (Fan on Facebook)
350 - Rachy - Views of a new libertarian socialist + Other Thoughts
789 - Dona Rintelman (Fan on Facebook)
836 - Brian Vare (Fan on Facebook)
570 - Vasile Bell - bElLdEbLuE BB

Details on our next competition will be posted soon.

All GritFX blog members and GritFX Facebook fans can enter our competitions.
Check out previous competition winners on the GritFX Website.

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-02-27T12:32:00.008+11:00

Lars And The Real Girl (2007)
Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner & Patricia Clarkson.
Written by Nancy Oliver.
Directed by Craig Gillespie.

Lars (Gosling) is a 27 year-old man living in the garage of his deceased parents’ house, now occupied by his older brother Gus (Schneider) and his pregnant wife Karin (Mortimer). He is a social misfit who feels pain when touched, shunning the company of everyone around him, including a sweet young woman named Margo (Garner) who constantly attempts to win his affection. When Lars introduces his new 'friend' - a life-size “anatomically correct” sex doll - to Gus and Karin, they assume he has lost his marbles. In steps the local doctor-cum-psychologist (Clarkson) who convinces everyone to play along with Lars’ delusion, confident it is nothing more than a phase. The word ‘quirky’, when applied to film, is an easy way of dressing up pretension – but its use is totally justified when describing Lars And The Real Girl. Featuring a memorably idiosyncratic performance from Gosling, this original little film is superbly written and consistently amusing and poignant. In what could have been reduced to smut is thankfully genuine, and manages to avoid any inclination to the low brow.

Taken (2008)
Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley & Nicholas Girard.
Written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen.
Directed by Pierre Morel.

Bryan (Neeson) is a former intelligence operative whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Paris and sold into sex slavery. Utilising the skills and contacts he acquired during his time in espionage, Big Bry proceeds to tear the French city apart in search of his daughter. Although it takes time to get moving, this taut thriller manages a pace in the second half that puts most films of this nature to shame, leading to a bloody finale. Co-written and produced by Luc Besson, the man behind such films as The Fifth Element and Leon, Taken is still a formulaic ride – slick and entertaining, yet almost instantly forgettable. Liam Neeson rarely gives a poor performance, and his towering frame is used to excellent effect in this film. He seems right at home delivering blows to the trachea, torturing a guy called Marko and wielding pistols like John McClane – racking up a bodycount of at least fifty by films’ end.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)
Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, John Cleese & Kathy Bates.
Written by David Scarpa.
Directed by Scott Derrickson.

A giant sphere arrives in Central Park from outer space and a strange being exits, accompanied by a huge robotic guardian. Wounded and in military custody, the being takes human form and manages to escape with the help of scientist Dr Helen Benson (Connelly). When it is revealed that the purpose of the visitation is to save Planet Earth from its’ human inhabitants (ie; wipe us out), the good doctor Benson must convince the destructor to change his intergalactic mind. This rotten remake of the 1951 film of the same name appears to be stuck in some curious time warp. Its sensibilities are laughably outdated, re-imagining the original films’ discourse without becoming contemporary. It seems hardly worth the effort and it’s tough to imagine how these actors were drawn into this mess. Featuring some downright horrendous dialogue and some plot developments that teetered on the ridiculous (such as, how did the military whip together that capsule they enclosed around the robot so fast and then, transport it to an underground location?), this clunker should have been titled The Day The Audience Fell Asleep.

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and posts weekly film reviews on this blog.)

Atlantis and the Giant Serpent

2009-02-25T15:17:00.007+11:00

Two ridiculous stories appeared on the internet last week. The first involved supposed photographic evidence of a giant serpent making its way down a river in Borneo. For some time, locals in the region of the Baleh River had dispersed stories of a shape-shifting serpent existing beneath the surface of the water. Named ‘Nabau’, it was a terrifying snake one hundred feet long, bearing a dragon’s head with seven nostrils! The photograph, supposedly taken by a disaster team monitoring flood regions, caused much panic among the local villagers.

The photograph below appeared on the Mail Online website – special mention must be paid to the individual who thought it necessary to insert a large red circle around the creature in question. Thanks for that – I doubt myself and countless others would have been able to discern the serpent without it! The photograph is obviously a fake – even someone without a background in graphics could reach that conclusion.

The second story revolved around the supposed discovery of Atlantis buried under the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of northwest Africa. Keen observers on Google Earth reported the ‘amazing’ discovery of what seemed to be an ancient grid of a city – the location of which was identified by many excited amateur and professional archaeologists as one of the possible locations of Atlantis, citing descriptions from Greek philosopher Plato amongst others. But what they failed to address was Plato’s vivid description of the mythical city, described in writings as being circular and residing beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar).

According to legend, Atlantis was a wonder of the ancient world, carved from the rock of the land in a formation of concentric circles. The size of the city was comparable to the scale of modern-day London. Access to the different levels of the city could only be achieved by traversing a waterway that spiralled inwards to the residences of the ruling elite. This prevented any successful invasion of the city as the circular formation and high walls leading up from the river surface provided an insurmountable defence. This description is a long way from the rectangular grid depicted in the Google Earth images.

In their book, When The Sky Fell: In Search of Atlantis, authors Rand and Rose Flem-Ath present a strong argument that Atlantis is in fact buried beneath the ice of Antarctica – the geographical features of lesser Antarctica being a possible match to the few descriptions of Atlantis in ancient writings. Needless to say, there was some disappointment expressed when Google Earth finally revealed that the supposed ‘grid’ of the ‘underwater city’ was merely an artefact of sonar imaging used to create the underwater maps.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-02-24T15:41:00.008+11:00

Spice Girls - Spice (1996)

Though I’d say my favourite Spice Girls songs are “Spice Up Your Life” and “Too Much”, which are both on their second album Spiceworld (1997), you can’t go past their first album Spice for a non-stop pop-fest. (NB: By the time I’ve finished writing this - having listened to both again - I think I like Spiceworld more). In July 1996, with the single “Wannabe”, the girls hit the scene like Godzilla (if Godzilla was a massively marketed corporate girl-group in platform boots and Union Jack miniskirt). They were like Beatlemania & the Sex Pistols & the Village People all rolled into one, transcending the mere music to become pop icons. They were easy to hate, but hard not to like - they were designed to be loveable. You had five characters to choose a fave from (Scary). And the music was fun. R&B grooves (“Last Time Lover” and “Something Kinda Funny”); revamped disco (“Who Do You Think You Are?”); and the gals even sang a ballad for Mum (“Mama”). So I can admit it now: ‘Hi, my name is Decoy, and I’m a Spice Girls fan’. They were a hipflask in the pocket of many reformed pop-oholics, and I now stand by it as a perfect example of 90s pop; catchy upbeat melodies with clean breezy harmonies. I dig the trading-off of lines between the girls - (in descending order of vocal ability) Sporty’s signature soar; Baby’s icing-sugar lilt, Scary’s punchy faux-reggae-rap, Ginger’s cheeky Monroe thing, and Posh couldn’t really sing, but was still an important part of the group strut. Who cares if the Spice Girls were a transparent construct of the corporate music industry and the tabloid media? Girl Power was quite endearing and sweet looking back now. And I already feel nostalgic for that time, the late 90s, pre-Paris Hilton, when a 56k modem was still faster than a 28k modem, when things seemed somehow more innocent. Which is revisionist thinking, I know. But this is one of my favourite soundtracks for those happily self-delusional occasions. On those nights, I crave simplicity, I just really really really wanna zig-a-zig ahh…

Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold (2006)

I guess if you get invited to open for Radiohead on part of their Rainbows tour, you must be doing something right. Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes received this honour. And you can kinda see why, because one thing that struck me when I first heard this album, was upon hearing the 2nd track “Trophy” (an hypnotic raga that works its magic with a pagan paced chant: ‘Heaven is a feeling I get in your arms…’), I thought: ‘Hmm, sounds like In Rainbows.’ Now don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t. I mean, if Radiohead were a one woman band called Bat For Lashes and had been listening to a lot of Kate Bush and Bjork and Cat Power, and released their debut in 2006 titled Fur and Gold, then it may’ve sounded something like this. With me? Both have employed those little egg-shaker maracas to cool effect. Both try to do inventive stripped back things in regards to instrumentation (especially percussion). Both use lyrics to paint suggestive images that are as meaningful or as meaningless as you wanna make them. Both use atmospheric silence to dim the moody spaces between the core instruments. Both seem old school and contemporary at the same time. And both are beautifully understated. The vocal melodies in “Trophy” when she hits the line: ‘Creatures of love feed…’, or the ‘When you love someone but the thrill is gone’ chorus in “What’s a Girl to Do?” are like torches in a dark forest - you feel safer with them around. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself walking around your home humming strange mantras like: ‘Tahiti we don’t got no name…’ and ‘There is no turning back…’ and ‘She really loves him, Prescilla’. Whatever the case, like In Rainbows, as soon as this album finished - as if trying to isolate the allusive addictive ingredient - I was compelled to play it again. And again. And again. And again.

(Plus the video for “What’s a Girl to Do?” was one of the coolest/spookiest post-Donnie Darko videos I’ve seen in years…dig it.)

Watch the video here at the GritHouse.

Kiss - Music from 'The Elder' (1981)

Even amongst hardcore Kiss fans, this is an oddball. It’s considered a strange sidestep on their Hard-Glam-Rock/Heavy-Metal timeline. Having previously worked with producer Bob Ezrin on their Destroyer album (1976), and perhaps after seeing the success he’d had with Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1979), Kiss enlisted his services again for a full-blown concept alb, with the whole swords and castles and fantasy bit. It bombed. But me and my D&D role-playing buddies loved it. Along with Pink Floyd, Queen, Yes, Jethro Tull, and King Crimson, it became part of the soundtrack stable for game nights. The title and cover were all we needed to see, really. Coz it was an album that sounded like its cover: A mock gateway into in the cavernous imagination of four NYC cock-rockers (in capes and make-up) trying to go Tolkien. Which - God bless’em - didn’t really work. And this was the reason most Kiss fans wrote it off. It tried to be a prog-rock concept album, but also wanted to be a rockin’ Kiss album. It was Kiss out of their depth, trying to work within a genre they weren’t really familiar with. But that was one of the album’s charms. There is an un-ironic innocence to it (kind of). You can tell they’re trying (kind of). Some of the lyrics are embarrassingly corny, like a teenager’s first attempt at fantasy storytelling, covering all the clichés of the genre. (That’s why it suited D&D so well.) The opening line of the album is: Like a blade of a sword I am forged in flame, fiery hot, which is actually one of the better ones. There’s “Odyssey” with: From a far off galaxy/ I hear you calling me/ We are on an odyssey/ Through the realms of time and space/ In that enchanted place/ You and I come face to face. (Sung like they’re spotlighted on a dry-iced stage with a skull in their hand.) And it just gets better with the chorus: Once upon not yet/ Long ago someday (See what they did there? - Clever wordplay). But like I said, I love it. “The Oath”, “Just A Boy”, “Odyssey”, “Dark Light”, “Under The Rose”, “A World Without Heroes”, they’re actually cool songs, and Bob Ezrin knew how to make things sound epic. So if you wanna rock out in your lounge room Tenacious D style, it doesn’t get much better than this.

By Decoy Spoon

Perfect Profile...

2009-02-21T16:06:00.009+11:00

"Perfect Profile" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

After another busy week, I didn't get to make the blogging rounds all that much... however, I was sent some posts regarding Facebook and the latest trick that they tried to pull!

You probably have all read about it yourself, but for those who don't know what I'm refering to... well, Facebook changed their terms of service (TOS) without notifying any of it's existing users. This presented a number of issues that any user - or potential user - should and did question. The first of which, in order to change the terms, they are required to contact all existing users and notify them of the change. A user must then agree to the new TOS. They failed to do this.

The second and extremely alarming issue in my opinion, was that the new TOS gave ownership of all your uploaded information over to Facebook... FOREVER!! The original terms outlined that you could terminate your account and that the license would automatically expire - with an acknowledgement that the "Company may retain archived copies of your User Content." This section of the TOS was deleted.

The craziest part, once again in my opinion, was that they would have a license to "use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising". How is that right!? I know that to publish a photograph taken at an event for example, you need written permission from all citizens who are visible in the shot. Without that, you can not use the image. So, tell me Facebook, how could you assume to think that you have this right!? While I accept that anything I upload to the internet can turn up in other places, I could not accept that a corporation worth billions could use my image in this way!

The issue has since been resolved, firstly with the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg making statements that it was all innocent and the TOS was only amended to protect them; followed by a return to the old TOS.

With that on my mind this week, I was considering changing my Facebook profile picture to one of my cats. Whist I was still reluctant to use an image I thought was "valuable" and give Facebook a chance to use it for their own gain, I was thinking of this one of Jonesy - which is my Camera Critter post for the week. With the old TOS now in place, I know the situation is a little different, but I'm still considering taking my image off my Facebook profile.

What do you think? Do you think this is the "perfect profile"? And are you on Facebook - if so, I'd love to hear what you use as your profile photo... your gorgeous mug? a cute critter?

Click on the image for a larger version.

For anyone interested in reading more about Facebook, here are some links to posts that I read:
1. Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever." by By Chris Walters - Feb 15 2009
2. With friends like these ... by Tom Hodgkinson - Feb 29 2008.
The second post is a great article regarding the sociological experiment that is Facebook.

What’s the Stench in Dubai?

2009-02-20T08:27:00.007+11:00

According to some reports, Dubai is fast becoming the new Switzerland for the world’s elite, following pressure from the EU for the European money haven to loosen its secrecy laws. There are no taxes in Dubai and free movement of funds have prompted many of the world’s wealthy to seek monetary refuge in the emirate. Built on petroleum and oil revenue, the most populated of the United Arab Emirates relies now on its real estate and financial services revenue to propel its economy. During the last decade or so, Dubai has seen an explosion of money injected into the construction of elaborate skyscrapers, hotels and even private islands. The Emir of Dubai even went as far as saying in a BBC interview that he does not want a middle class in the emirate, only monied elites. Human rights activists have pointed out that the Dubai boom has largely been built on the backs of a mostly foreign, exploited workforce.

Dubai has become one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions due to the travelogue promises of constant sunshine and glorious beaches. But the elites had better clean up their act or they’ll find themselves wallowing in an empty city. For a recent article appearing in The Australian (and then picked up elsewhere on the web) brought attention to the pollution problem from which Dubai now suffers. One of the most frequented destinations by Western tourists - Jumeirah Beach – is now home to a “noxious tide of toilet paper, raw sewage and chemical waste”. Jumeirah is lined with exclusive hotels, yet the ocean water has been described as a “muddy brown”, emitting an “unbearable stench”. Keith Mutch, manager of the Offshore Sailing Club, indicated that tests conducted by the Club showed excessive levels of E. coli in the water and he has subsequently been forced to cancel regattas.

The problem illustrates the lack of proper planning amid the capitalist ideal of grand and grander. Much effort has been poured into the concrete of Dubai’s lavish constructions with little concern for the infrastructure of the city and the living conditions of the foreign workforce. The source of the contamination was traced by Mutch to a storm drain discarding waste into the sea, which in turn lead to the al-Quoz industrial area housing, among other things, cement and paint factories. The drains were originally constructed to transport excess water during Dubai’s rainy season, but were now also being used as a dumping spot for the city’s sewage. For the mostly poor Asian truck drivers, paid by the truckload, a dumping of the city’s human waste in the storm drains was more lucrative than a long drive into the desert to the only sewage plant in the area, accompanied by long queues upon arrival.

The pollution problem in the waters off Jumeirah Beach is such that there is a lack of confidence by many that anything will be done to reverse it. This is one aspect of Dubai that could spell its doom, for all the beautiful buildings in the world will never be enough to overcome the bad taste left in tourists’ mouths after a leisurely dip in the ocean. The continued exploitation of the poor has perhaps finally come back to bite the perpetrators on the backside with a nice dose of gastroenteritis.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS

2009-02-19T12:43:00.007+11:00

Syriana (2005)
Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, George Clooney, Chris Cooper, Alexander Siddig, Amanda Peet, Mazhar Munir, Tim Blake Nelson & Christopher Plummer.
Written & Directed by Stephen Gaghan.

In the Middle East, two unemployed youths are drawn into a circle of Muslim extremists, while a energy analyst is sent to apply for a contract with Arab royalty and is met with tragedy. In the United States, a CIA operative becomes obsessed with finding a missile sold in an arms deal, and a morally corrupted attorney investigates the merger of two massive oil corporations. Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, has again chosen heavy material for his second film as director, this time concentrating on the global influence of Big Oil. Loosely based on former CIA officer Robert Baer’s memoir, this complex, serpentine tale of interconnected lives and events is a masterpiece of subtle storytelling, weaving its tapestry deliberately and gaining momentum at every turn. Accompanied by a haunting, minimalist score from Alexandre Desplat, Syriana is a rare bird in the fickle environment of Hollywood, demanding strict attention from its audience. Wright and Clooney (in an Oscar-winning role) are simply magnificent amid a cluster of excellent performances, and Gaghan demonstrates again that he is a writer of enormous talent.

Music & Lyrics (2007)
Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston and Campbell Scott.
Written & Directed by Mark Lawrence.

Alex Fletcher (Grant) is a former pop idol from the 1980s now reduced to singing for his middle-aged fans at embarrassing venues. When he is given the chance to resurrect his career by writing a hit song for a young Britney-style pop princess, he teams up with kooky Sophie (Barrymore), a former English Lit major who displays a natural talent for lyrics and melody. As the two proceed in their venture, love blossoms…of course. This insightful, honest comedy is highly entertaining and features the kind of genuine laughs that are conspicuously absent from most Hollywood comedies. Grant and Barrymore have chemistry to spare and are wonderful foils for each other, receiving solid support from TV actors Johnston and Garrett. OK, the more macho among us may consider this your typical “chick flick”, but this macho man was totally captivated by Music & Lyrics. The film never felt contrived and delivered some truly catchy tunes that had this reviewer singing the next day in the shower (much to the chagrin of my partner).

Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Michael Kelly & Mekhi Phifer.
Written by James Gunn & Scott Frank.
Directed by Zack Snyder.

Ana (Polley) awakes one morning to a living hell. Her husband is trying to kill her after being bitten by their next door neighbour, and outside on the streets, civilisation is collapsing. This is all thanks to some unknown phenomenon that is turning people into ravenous zombies – but these ain’t your typical shuffling kind of zombie, these suckers can run! She eventually teams up with cop Kenneth (Rhames) and a bunch of other survivors who take refuge in a shopping mall. This electric horror film is a remake of the George A Romero classic of the same name from 1978. Yet, all the two films really share in common are their titles and major set-piece (the shopping mall). It lacks the social commentary of Romero’s film, but stands proudly alongside it as a definitive ‘re-imagining’. The film is redundant and obvious at times, and even crosses the line on one occasion, but for this genre, it delivers exactly what its intended audience craves – a decent story, a good pace and a bucketload of gore.

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and will post weekly thirty second film reviews on this blog.)

New GritFX T-Shirts!!!

2009-02-17T09:10:00.011+11:00

Well, it’s about time we had some new designs in our store. Below are our first batch for 2009, conceived and executed by the GritFX team consisting of myself (Manz), Dave & Max (with some input from Wadrick). Dave was his usually pedantic self when it came to approving designs, which may answer the question as to why it took so long for them to become available.

We are currently updating our online stores, so bear with us when shopping. We will soon be expanding our Zazzle range of available designs.

Hope you dig our new designs (and buy one!)…

Click on the image to load a larger version...

No Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

2009-02-15T09:43:00.008+11:00

Last week, the Orange County online news service - www.ocregister.com - posted an image of the end of a rainbow. This rarely-seen sight was captured by one Jason Erdkamp, a resident of Lake Forest, as he was driving in northeast Orange County in Southern California. Unfortunately for Mr Erdkamp, there was no pot of gold lying on the highway.

There was a flurry of activity on the website following the post, with many questioning the validity of the image. Photoshop was discussed, prompting science writer/editor Gary Robbins to gather some professional opinions. He consulted with noted photographers, a graphic designer and meteorologists who all agreed the photograph had not been manipulated.

One witty reader on the website made the comment that the lack of a pot of shiny gold meant that the photograph actually depicted the beginning of the rainbow. This, of course, is a convenient excuse for those treacherous leprechauns.

by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Source: http://www.ocregister.com)

Sweet Valentine...

2009-02-14T16:51:00.006+11:00

"Sweet Valentine" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

After a very busy week - I actually had to do real work this week! - I'm at a loose end for anything witty or interesting to say. Let's say I feel drained. It's Valentine's Day as I type this, and my plans are for a quiet night with Dave. I'm not a person who "celebrates" the Valentine holiday, but I'm not opposed to affection.

Neither are Jonesy and Ella!
These were taken the afternoon we brought them home from the cattery after a week away. The place was nice, but the sleeping arrangement meant they couldn't snuggle. A few hours after getting home, and there they were - cute huh?

I thought they were perfect for this weeks "Camera Critters" post, considering it's Valentines Day and all.

I took a few photos that afternoon, these two are my pick for "Camera Critters"...anyone who's watched the GritFX Mascots short film over at the GritHouse may have seen the first one before ;)

Decoy’s Completely Biased Non-Definitive Guide To Music

2009-02-12T15:33:00.007+11:00

Marcy Playground - Marcy Playground (1997)

One band that got lost in the shifting sands of the post-grunge years was New York’s Marcy Playground. They were never gonna be a revolutionary band, but I think they were certainly victims of bad timing, and changing trends within the industry. This, their debut, produced the single “Sex and Candy” which became quite a big hit and propelled them into the spotlight for a while. But it soon faded. And they seemed to disappear from the radar. The thing is, this band wrote some really good songs. Their sound was undeniably Nirvana-influenced, especially songs like: “Poppies” and “Saint Joe on the School Bus”. But it was their other tracks where I feel they came into their own. Songs like: “Ancient Walls of Flowers”, “A Cloak of Elvenkind”, “One More Suicide” and “The Vampires of New York” that came to symbolise what I dug about Marcy Playground. Catchy laconic tunes with a weird obscure semi-acoustic bent. The lyrics have an ironic detachment that makes them kinda boring on paper, and you’d think kinda (not very funny) jokey to be sung, but what made it all work was the melody being sung, that carried these words was usually so instantly friendly - like old songs you knew at school or nursery rhymes - that the irony became (at its best moments) a kind of sweet and tender poignancy that came across sadly defeated and nostalgic rather than maudlin or navel-gazing or whatever. Really an underappreciated band and album…

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals (2008)

Gregg Gillis…a mild-mannered Pennsylvanian biomedical engineer by day…and by night, as the moon rises and the lunatics come out to play, he tears the lab-coat off (quite literally, sometimes) as he morphs into his dance-crazed mash-up DJ alter-ego: Girl Talk. A 21st century superhero, armed with his trusty laptop and FM radio, mashing together all manner of songs and samples and beats into a juicy form of dance pop. The songs he uses as source material for his digital alchemy are so disparate (eg: Jay-Z, Toni Basil, Rod Stewart and Aphex Twin – within one song) that it’s a true feat of sonic collage to combine such wildcard elements into a highly listenable context. And it’s these skills as an arranger that stands out after repeated listens. Even though upon a first taste one is seemingly bombarded with countless pop references, the restraint exercised allows the listener to identify the samples and enjoy the fresh juxtapositions (or if you’re slow, like me, at least get a sense of them - and it’ll come to you later, probably while you’re brushing your teeth, getting ready for bed). The tendency for some would be to push it to further extremes into Breakcore territory. Which is still interesting, but stops being as much fun for me. (Plus, who can dance to breakcore?) And that’s what this music is, above all else - Fun. With each release, he has always pushed more samples into each song, clocking up something on the order of thousands of pieces of song. He has continually tested the limits of the form without losing the playfulness. Perhaps one day we’ll see the logical extension of his ideas, and he’ll release a one song album that contains a snippet of every song ever recorded! His Mash’em Opus. Now there’s a challenge…do it, Mr. Talk…I’m there dude.

(I should probably point out that despite my love of music, I can’t dance to save my life. My free & easy use of words concerning dancing are simply meant for you…if you are so inclined to shake it. And I hear you saying: ‘Hey, Decoy, that’s classic, me too, I can’t dance either -’…well, let me just stop you right there - nah, friend, you can dance…okay?...compared to me, you can dance…trust me…)

Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)

One of the saddest stories in 70s/80s Jazz, is the untimely death of Jaco Pastorius at the age of 35. The man could play electric bass like no other. And he made some great recordings with other 70s jazz hounds like Pat Metheny and Paul Bley. I first heard him on Joni Mitchell’s jazz-laced Hejira (1976), where he played on four tracks. But that same year saw the release of this, his first official solo effort. Here, with songs like, “Come On, Come Over”, “Continuum” and “Okonkole Y Trompa” he finally got to show the world he could back up his lofty claim: “I am the greatest bass player in the world.” Upon meeting this cocky cat, Joe Zawinul (the acclaimed jazz keyboardist who played with Miles Davis during Miles’ groundbreaking electric period, and who went on to form Weather Report) thought he was full of shit, and himself. But Joe went home and listened to Jaco’s demo tapes and subsequently recruited him for Weather Report’s next album, Black Market (1976). Jaco would stay with them for five more albums as a full-fledged member of the band, before releasing his second solo album Word of Mouth (1981). His playing was very influential not only in the world of Jazz, but you can trace his sound and style through funk’s evolution and even the alternate-grooves of Primus and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He had an effortlessly smooth style, and his dexterity is really something to behold. Shifting from rhythm-section to lead and back again, he could be at once a blur of notes and then a big bulbous drone throbbing behind the scenes. Even if you’re not a fan of jazz or funk or whatever else you’d call his music, he probably remains an influence on something you’d like, such was the impact of this outrageously talented (and unfortunately tragic) musician/composer.

By Decoy Spoon

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1980’s)

2009-02-11T10:49:00.010+11:00

The Bear (1988)
Tcheky Karyo, Jack Wallace, Andre Lacombe, Bart the Kodiac Bear, Youk the Bear Cub.
Written by Gerard Brach.
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

A bear cub is made an orphan after its mother is killed. Setting off into the wilderness, the young bear befriends a huge, wounded male that is being tracked by hunters. And that’s basically the story extent of this riveting, wonderfully shot film set in British Columbia at the end of the 19th century. It was once a popular phrase in Hollywood to “never work with children or animals”, yet any complications that may have arisen on The Bear are never evident. The film is seamlessly executed, combining the most astounding animal ‘acting’ ever seen on screen with absolutely first class cinematography from Philippe Rousselot. The human characters have little dialogue, and necessarily take a backseat to the animals – they could even be considered underwritten and at times suffer from some poor dubbing. But this is never a consideration once the viewer is captured by the spell of this truly timeless film that should not be thought of as a ‘childrens movie’. And I guarantee it’s the only film in which you’ll ever see a bear tripped out on mushrooms. A personal favourite.

Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, John Cusack, John C. McGinley, Laura Dern and Bonnie Bedelia.
Written by Roland Joffe & Bruce Robinson.
Directed by Roland Joffe.

Roland Joffe is not a filmmaker I particularly admire. Whilst his career has been peppered with excellent films such as The Killing Fields and The Mission, his style often creates a dull visual experience, only lifted by the work of his cast. Fat Man and Little Boy is no exception, at times lacking the motion that elevates a drama and saves it from being (for want of a better word) “stagey”. Fat Man tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Schultz) and the team assembled by General Groves (Newman) to devise and construct the atomic bomb. Dealing with the inherent crisis of conscience, the brilliant team overcome obstacles aplenty in their road to creating a heinous device that would hopefully (and naively) bring an end to the idea of war. It is an interesting and compelling story, brought to life by an excellent cast, led by the great Paul Newman and ably supported by Schultz and Cusack. The film fails in many respects, but those unfamiliar with the Manhattan Project will find much worth in Fat Man and Little Boy – others may be discouraged by its distinctly Hollywood telling.

Scarface (1983)
Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Harris Yulin and F. Murray Abraham.
Written by Oliver Stone.
Directed by Brian De Palma.

Tony Montana (Pacino) arrives in Miami as part of the Mariel Boatlift, when Castro opened the gates of Mariel Harbor and let over 100,000 Cubans immigrate to the USA. Like many, he is a criminal, and soon ingratiates himself into the underworld of Florida, eventually flourishing through bloodshed to be the king of cocaine. Despite a grandiose performance from Pacino, this turgid mess is unrelentingly oppressive from the get-go. Sleazy and brutal, Scarface is one of the overrated director De Palma’s lowest moments. The absolutely seedy underbelly of Miami is brought to the screen in vivid detail by the production department, but it seems that screenwriter Stone couldn’t edit his own material or even know when the hell to quit. The film itself has been glorified into a cult phenomenon on no solid basis aside from its graphic violence and nihilism – transforming the character of Tony Montana into an iconic figure. I don’t think that was the point…

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and will post weekly thirty second film reviews on this blog.)

The Worst Bushfire in Australian History

2009-02-09T15:58:00.007+11:00

Following some enquiries from my international friends, I thought I should write a brief post on the current bushfire crisis here in Australia. Living in the state of New South Wales, north of Sydney, I am way clear of the epicentre which is some 800 kilometres away in the southern state of Victoria (and just over the northern border with NSW) – although a fire did break out yesterday at a place called Peats Ridge, an area only 15 kilometres away from where I live. Luckily, it was a small blaze and quickly contained.

But this is the reality of summer in Australia. I cannot remember a year when we did not have a bushfire. Of course, none in recent memory come close to the current devastation in Victoria that, at last count, had claimed 126 lives – the worst loss of life from bushfires in Australia’s short history. But I have experienced in past years the blanket of smoke from fires here in NSW that inevitably cloud the skies, turning the sun a bright red. And once again, the issue has also been raised as to whether the majority of the fires resulted from arson – an act that our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd stated was akin to “mass murder”. For once, he is right about that.

Horror stories have begun to emerge of towns in our southern state being obliterated in a matter of minutes by a firestorm exacerbated by hot, dry temperatures (47 degrees Celsius at some locations) and strong winds. Many lost their lives trying to flee in their cars, becoming trapped on roads with nowhere to go. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and indeed everything they own. And let’s not forget the hundreds of volunteer fire-fighters who risk their lives to battle the blazes, and the countless other community volunteers giving their time to people in need.

For more on the Victorian fires, visit http://ninemsn.com.au and view the multitude video footage of this horrendous event.

Images by Google

Drop and Run...

2009-02-07T17:16:00.004+11:00

"Drop and Run" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been using entrecard to discover blogs that fall under my categories of interest. Coincidentally, I found Camera Critters through using ecard!

Anyway, I've come across a number of posts written by ec users, describing the drop and run user - a browser (generous title for these folk) who only drop by long enough to leave you their card, and collect their ec credit! Entrecard has a 300 drops per day maximum placed on the system; my average number of drops (when I'm actively online) is 50 per day!!

Whilst thinking about the 'drop and run' blogger, my mind went to a little friend who I snapped a couple of photos of when on a winter holiday. After going to the effort to place something out there of interest and value to my potential friend, the response was lacklustre - a quick drop and run attitude! I guess that is the only way you can bank 300 drops in one 24hr session!!

Having said that, there must be something that compelled that blogger from dropping by in the first place - an interesting ec card for example - and anything that increases our ranks in the listings is a good thing in my book. If you're an ec dropper reading this, I invite you to leave a comment.... do you drop and run like this bird did?

This was my pick for "Camera Critters"...see how my little friend kept one eye on what I was up to ;)

DROP & RUN....

WADRICK’S THIRTY SECOND FILM REVIEWS (the 1990’s)

2009-02-04T07:35:00.008+11:00

Se7en (1995)
Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, John C. McGinley, Richard Roundtree and Kevin Spacey.
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker.
Directed by David Fincher.

A maniac is murdering people in accordance with the seven deadly sins. Somerset (Freeman) is a jaded detective on the brink of retirement who is joined by Mills (Pitt), a rookie eager to “do some good”. The two form an uneasy alliance to track down the murderer – a sinister soul known only as John Doe (a marvellous Spacey). When I walked out of the cinema after seeing Fincher’s Se7en, I can recall being shrouded in a black cloud. What the hell had I just witnessed? In hindsight, it’s easy to understand the power of this film and its subsequent influence. From the skin-crawling effect of the opening credits (which have since become almost a pre-requisite for any film of similar nature) to the uncompromising finale, the film managed to elicit a graphically violent motif without ever having to reveal much at all. Se7en is one dour film, but this production design and the accompanying incessant rainfall gave the film a look that felt far more noir than any noir could. Aside from all of this, the film afforded director Fincher (a) the attention he so obviously deserved; and (b) respect for standing up to the studio execs who wished for a happy Hollywood ending to this unforgiving tale.

Face/Off (1997)
Nicholas Cage, John Travolta, Alessandro Nivola, Colm Feore, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Nick Cassavettes and Harve Presnell.
Written by Mike Werb & Michael Colleary.
Directed by John Woo.

An FBI agent named Sean Archer (Travolta) has his face surgically altered to be a dead ringer for a heinous terrorist named Castor Troy (Cage). The plan to infiltrate the terrorists’ gang of cronies goes swimmingly, until Troy decides to have his face altered as well, assuming the identity of Archer and threatening the lives of his family. This laughable film was a substantial hit, sucking in an audience drunk on the Pulp Fiction-inspired resurrection of Travolta. But they were soon sobering up to the fact that Travolta, like his previously faltered career, was grounding his new-found fame in this trash and others like Broken Arrow and Battlefield Earth. The ridiculous style of Asian golden boy John Woo was never more evident than in this unintentionally funny ‘action’ film. Woo’s unbearable penchant for slow-motion reduces the final reel of Face/Off to a truly horrendous ‘opera’ of gunfire (now referred to as “Gun-Fu”). It’s no wonder his career has been conspicuously minor since the mid-90s. Two years after his Academy Award-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas, Face-Off also signified the initial decline in the quality of Cage’s work (the exception being Spike Jonze’s Adaptation in 2002). You’ll have more fun peeling your own face off than watching this crud.

GoodFellas (1990)
Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino.
Written by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese.
Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Ever since he could remember, Henry Hill (Liotta) wanted to be a gangster. Based on true events, GoodFellas charts the rise of Hill from teenage courier for local mafia captains to his eventual downfall at the hands of the FBI. Accompanying Hill on his violent journey are his psychotic friend, Tommy (Pesci) and Hill’s somewhat mentor, Jimmy (DeNiro). One of Scorsese’s finest films, GoodFellas ripped into the new decade with a bold statement on lives of crime. Powerfully acted (Pesci won an Oscar for his role) and directed (by a filmmaker in his prime), the film resonates with a voyeur quality that has rarely been matched (and perhaps only superseded by Scorsese’s own Raging Bull). From it’s graphically violent opening to its almost iconic final frame, GoodFellas is akin to a kick in the guts (or a cap in the ass), reinventing itself as the story progresses through each sensational act. Employing all the tricks of the trade that he had been honing since Mean Streets, Scorsese’s GoodFellas still remains the yardstick for all subsequent films on organised crime. One of the decades’ best.

RATINGS CHART...

(Wadrick Jones is a freelance writer for GritFX and will post weekly thirty second film reviews on this blog.)

Jonesy's Wild Ways...

2009-01-31T15:03:00.005+11:00

"Jonesy's Wild Ways" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.

For those new to the GritBlog, you may not know about Jonesy. He is my eldest of 2 children, and was adopted approximately 5 years ago. I've heard many animal lovers express that "he chose us to be his family", and I have to agree with this sentiment. He was never in a shelter, rather he made friends with another cat that was living in our apartment building - his first steps to being socialised. The moment I saw him, I fell in love and wanted to make sure that he had a decent chance at life.

We got him "fixed"... bye, bye little gonads... and then attempted to find him a home. One plan was to leave him at my folks place while we were away on holidays over summer. This was done with a hope that he would bond with my folks and we would have succeeded in finding him a home. In retrospect, I think he was wise to that, as he would only come back to be fed. Cloaked in darkness, he would creep up to the deck for food (so I was told); that is until we (myself & Dave) arrived to pick him up!

You may be asking, "what does this have to do with this week's camera critters post?" Well, this week I wanted to share some "wild boy" images with you. There's a saying here in Australia "you can take the guy (or girl) out of the west, but you can't take the west out of the guy"... I feel that you could also say that "you can take the cat out of the wild, but you'll never remove the wild within him (or her)" - and these images are my proof.

With respect for all wildlife, I like to keep an eye on him when he's "playing" outside. In doing so, I'm now able to share these images.

This was my pick for "Camera Critters"....I like how you can see his intense stare through the movement of the greenery.

Another shot of him keeping a close eye on the surrounding activity...

And a final photo where you can see his full cheeky face - he had his eye on a bird here also...