I always get nervous around every Apple keynote. The Apple rumor sites start to froth at the mouth weeks in advance and for the most part, I try and keep away from them so the element of surprise is always intact come Steve’s keynote!
From the outset, I’m a huge fan of portable computing. My first Mac was the 17″ Powerbook G4 which I bought in 2003. I loved that machine to death! Since then, it’s been upgraded to a 17″ Macbook Pro and now a Macbook Air. My gal uses the Pro, I refuse to let the Air outta-my-site! Love it beyond muchly! the LED display is worth the price alone as it is so damn pristine and clear. I wish the Pro had such a display.
Well now it does.
Overnight, the new Macbooks were released. There’s been a slight upgrade of the Air but not enough to warrant me fretting over my two month old one. These are quite a departure from the previous models but the pricing remains extortionate. As amazing as these machines are, the price range is albeit on the expensive side.
I won’t bore you with the techs and specs, that’s what the Apple site is for. But do check ‘em all out. And remember, “once you go Mac, you’ll never go back!”
Neil Gaiman Gives Away The Graveyard.
Goth god and New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman is giving away his new work, The Graveyard Book, one chapter at a time.
Jersey-based Shocker Toys has licensed likenesses/characters from Dethklok and Gwar for its upcoming line of action figures. The 5.5? Dethklok line, featuring Nathan Explosion, Murderface, Skwisgaar, Toki, and Pickles, is sold as a limited edition set (click here to order).
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The Pulse of Radio reports that film director Larry Charles has spoken out about his involvement in the biographical Mötley Crüe film The Dirt, which was originally set to be produced through MTV Films/Paramount Studios but is no longer on the company’s slate. Charles, who directed many episodes of ‘Seinfeld’ as well as the movies ‘Borat’ and the new Bill Maher documentary ‘Religulous’, said, “The Mötley Crüe thing I was really into and I did a lot of work on it…but it was at MTV Films which then got swallowed by Paramount Vantage which then got swallowed by Paramount. All those people were gone that developed it and it got put to the side, so I don’t know what’s going to happen to it.”
Charles added that he thought the film “had to be an NC-17 (no one under 17 admitted) movie, and I thought, ‘Well that would be ballsy to do. When was the last time they had a mainstream NC-17 movie?’ That’d be a good idea.”
Interestingly, Charles is not a fan of the Crüe, saying that the memoir the film was supposed to be based on was “so much better than they deserve, the book, because Mötley Crüe is a crappy band but (author Neil Strauss) wrote a really epic book about them. It’s really fascinating.”
The director also said that the “hardcore” nature of the band’s history might have affected its chances as a movie, explaining, “They’ve killed people, they’ve hurt people, they’ve crippled people, they’ve done all kinds of crazy things. You’d have to show that for real and I think there was a little bit of reticence about doing that ultimately.”
A deal to bring the 2001 memoir to the screen was first announced in 2006 but has since gone nowhere. Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx told Reuters that MTV was “not the right partner.”
The Mindscape of Alan Moore.
The Mindscape of Alan Moore is a feature documentary which chronicles the life and work of Alan Moore, author of several acclaimed graphic novels, including “From Hell,” “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta.” It is the only feature film production on which Alan Moore has collaborated, with permission to use his work.
I finally caught the Grindhouse double-feature at the Astor last night and you know what, I was sure as hell glad that I did! Seeing this classic double-feature at a theatre such as the Astor, was pure magic!
Both the Tarantino and Rodriguez films copped some flak on their initial release. Even tho I enjoyed both films (Rodriguez’s more-so than Tarantino’s) on their DVD release, seeing them on the big screen with a full-house, energetic and responsive Astor audience was pure magic! It was an enthralling night’s entertainment and hearing the crowd react and squirm and laugh and boo and cheer and practically roll with the punches and mayhem on screen - just made it all the more fun!
The Astor itself is such a classic theatre that it seemed tailor made to host this Grindhouse double-bill. I guess that is why the Grindhouse nights are so damn popular as the theatre has been featuring them several times a month for the past year or so.
Seriously, I know you’ve all seen the films. I know you’ve all got the DVD’s. But please, go to the Astor and don’t see these films… EXPERIENCE them! Allright?
Pure fuckn magic!
Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ ad images made on Macs.
Images Microsoft posted to its Web site as part of its new ad campaign were created on Macs.
As has been covered on this blog before, there is an exciting new Australian publication called Black and yours truly will have a regular column in each issue. I’m not a liberty to discuss exactly what I will be contributing to the mag as editor Angela Chalis and I are still fine tuning some details, but for issue 2, I was fortunate enough to have some of my photography included in the column ‘Through A Lens Darkly’. (see above)
The shot was taken early last year at Centre Place, Melbourne - and is one of my faves as it features my girlfriend. I remember that weekend as if it were yesterday. She has a poster print of this on her lounge room wall and it looks really cool in a large scale format.
Issue 2 of Black should be hitting the newsagencies any day now and of course, you can find out more about it here.
Imagine if you will, heavy darkness perhaps the glimpse of a passing full moon, the creak of a solid wooden door, the sound of heavy footsteps upon old stone floors perhaps a distant whine of the wind or wolf howl and a bosom laden damsel screaming for help. Into this dank world treads Mexico’s El Santo and Blue Demon!
These are the masked crusaders of good against evil fearlessly they fought vampires, zombies, fiends from outer space, mobsters, Nazi conspiracies but still had time for dinner out with voluptuous ladies and never ever let saving the world get in the way of a good wrestling tournament. No way were these masked heroes going to let the fans down. These guys were secret agents with wristwatch communicators, fast cars, sharp suits and the ability to pull birds without pulling off their masks.
The movies were low budget high adventure rituals of pure cult classic indulgence, the antics of Blue Demon and El Santo spawned comic books, crude action figures, replica masks and a lifetime of addiction for me. El Santo and Blue Demon were real athletes and touring wrestlers but it was on the silver screen that they truly ruled the world. Sometimes the teamed up for joint movies other times they went it alone. There are a host of these wonderful excessively garish classics to be viewed on DVD, the effects and the sets are almost Ed Woodish but that’s the love and it’s all good fun. If you were brought up on Universal Monster flicks like me and enjoy your cinema a bit rougher around the edges yet of classically human creativity then you will appreciate the flavour here!
Forget Austin Powers, James Bond or Van Helsing, these mysterious masked brawlers were the best chance the world ever had against evil meddlers and downright dishonest sorts who would keep us all from sleeping soundly at night.
The sons of Blue Demon and El Santo, Blue Demon Jnr and Hijo del Santo respectively have carried on the mantle with their own comics, figures, power drinks, fights and tours. In recent times an animated El Santo stalked Mexican television sets via the Cartoon Network saving Mexico City from yet another evil professor and his abominable creations. The good time Lucha Libre movies rock my world, they are not slick, they are not pretty but if you want glorious insanity then they’ve got it. It’s the stuff of matinee escapism.
Vox Populi
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