Saturday, December 1, 2012

Just For Fun 01 December

 

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For more Savage Chicken humour, click here

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Movie Review ... Dredd

 
dredd-movie-poster-2012Based on the ‘2000 A.D.’ comic-book character, ‘Dredd’ is the opposite of recent superhero films.  Featuring a character who is judge, jury and executioner, its hero walks a dirtier path The Avengers or Iron Man wouldn’t touch.  A vast improvement on the 1995 Sylvester Stallone fiasco, it’s unafraid in being rough.  Which is just as well as it emulates what made the character initially interesting in this successful page to screen adaptation.
 
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is Mega City-One’s chief law enforcer.  Ensuring justice is met in the post-apocalyptic city in which he resides he does his duty with forthright conviction.  When joined by rookie cadet Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), he becomes embroiled with devious drug-baron Ma-Ma (Lena Headey).  Peddling an addictive new substance whilst in charge of a slum, her ways gain his attention.  Determined to destroy her power, Dredd sets out to prove why he is the city’s main saviour.
 
Like flipping through its comic pages ‘Dredd’ moves like a rocket.  While the action and CGI are dazzling it’s the pacing which really shines.  Set in a 24 hour time period and within the confined spaces of an apartment slum these elements enable the various mix of the city’s personalities to be shown.  It also adds a sense of urgency with Director Pete Travis ensuring not a frame is wasted as Dredd does what he does best.  
 
Portrayed as an updated Dirty Harry-type, Dredd’s tactical knowledge is just as dangerous as his criminal-catching zeal.  As raspy voiced as one expects, Urban manages to add some dimension to his stoic role and equips himself well.  This isn’t a performer’s movie although everyone gives it a fair go.  They manage to develop their characters amidst the furious shoot-outs managing to make their violent habitat seem all too real.
 
As an action flick ‘Dredd’ provides a bit more than expected.  Lean and very mean, it’s streets ahead of the original movie managing to restore a long-running character amongst the pack of cinema’s virtuous heroes.
 
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Movie Review Rating  7 / 10
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
If you have any comments to make about this Movie Review, then please use the comment box, titling your comments with Movie Review Dredd
Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at current movie releases in Australia.
SOUNDTRACK
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Helping You Through Any Bad Day

 

  • You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk.
  • People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.
  • If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
  • At work, the authority of a person is inversely proportional to the number of pens that person is carrying.
  • If at first you don't succeed, go into management.
  • When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
  • Following the rules will not get the job done.
  • Getting the job done is no excuse for not following the rules.
  • When confronted by a difficult problem you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
  • No matter how much you do, you never do enough.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – This Christmas


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When your first single from Grease, the biggest movie musical of all time, is the chart-topping “You’re the One That I Want,” and it becomes the best-selling duet in pop music history – that’s a tough act to follow. Almost 35 years later, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have combined their iconic voices for This Christmas, a newly recorded album featuring Christmas favourites with guest artists such as Barbara Streisand, Tony Bennett, and James Taylor! Travolta and Newton-John will donate the artist proceeds from the album equally to their respective charities, the Jett Travolta Foundation and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
 
Track Listing:
01 – Baby It’s Cold Outside
02 – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
03 – I’ll Be Home For Christmas
04 – This Christmas
05 – Silent Night
06 – The Christmas Waltz
07 – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
08 – Winter Wonderland
09 – White Christmas
10 – I Think You Might Like It
11 – The Christmas Song
12 – Deck The Halls
13 – Auld Lang Syne – Christmas Time Is Here (Medley)

Cool Images 01 December

 

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Dolly Parton Shares a Beauty Tip or Two


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Dolly Parton discusses her early beauty secrets in her new book Dream More
 
“Until I was a teenager, I used red pokeberries for lipstick and a burnt matchstick for eyeliner. I used honeysuckle for perfume. We were raised in the Pentecostal Church of God and they believed that wearing makeup was sinful. My Grandpa Jake, my Mama’s dad, was a preacher. So I had to sneak around and make myself look all pretty but then wash it off before they caught me.”
 
Wonder what other beauty secrets Dolly divulges? Guess we will all have to read and find out ...


An Audrey Hepburn Moment

 

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Audrey Hepburn on her bike at Paramount Studios, 1957. Scanned by jane for Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans website: http://www.doctormacro.com. Enjoy!

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Trivia Bits 01 December

 

  • Opened in 2011, a Washington memorial to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr included the Mountain of Despair and the Stone of Hope.
  • Kingscote is the largest town on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
  • The Panama Hat originates from the South American country of Ecuador.
  • Two US authors in 2011 rejected claims that Vincent van Gogh, 19 Century Dutch painter was suicide. They claimed he was killed by two brothers at a farm.
  • Brad Pitt was banned from entering China because of his role in the movie Seven Years in Tibet.
  • Michael Crichton published in 1990 the novel Jurassic Park on which the 1993 movie of the same name was based.
  • There are 26 bones in the human foot.
  • King Henry VIII was recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England in 1531.
  • The five nations that border Syria are Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.
  • In nautical terms, the horizontal direction of a line of sight between two objects on the surface of the earth is known as a bearing.

High Speed Photographs of Liquids in Motion

 

To create something beautiful through high-speed photography requires a lot of planning and patience. Photographer Jack Long’s series of photographs entitled Liquid Vessels and Blooms came about through his explorations with splash photography, which led him to create original ways to photograph liquids in motion or fluid suspensions, as he likes to call it.

Through extensive experimentation, he was able to shape and colour liquids in forms resembling flowers and was successful in creating each photo with just a single capture of the camera, without the use of Photoshop to create composited images. What you see is how it was shot. Now that’s some major skill right there.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

Jack’s collections of photographs are worth a visit just to see the patience and talent of this superb photographer. To see more click here.

Quotables 01 December

 

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Some More Places I Would Like To See

 

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Just For Fun 30 November

 

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See the World by Rail - Vintage Travel Posters

 

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Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston


I Will Always Love You_ The Best of Whitney Houston (Deluxe

Track Listing:
01 You Give Good Love
02 Saving All My Love for You
03 How Will I Know? (Remastered)
04 Greatest Love of All
05 I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Remastered)
06 Didn't We Almost Have It All?
07 So Emotional (Remastered)
08 Where Do Broken Hearts Go?
09 I'm Your Baby Tonight
10 All The Man That I Need
11 I Will Always Love You
12 I'm Every Woman
13 I Have Nothing (Remastered)
14 Exhale (Shoop Shoop)
15 I Believe in You and Me (Film Version)
16 My Love Is Your Love
17 I Look to You
18 Never Give Up
19 Love Will Save The Day
20 One Moment in Time (Remastered)
21 It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be
22 My Name Is Not Susan
23 I Belong to You
24 Run to You
25 Queen of the Night (Radio Edit)
26 Count On Me
27 Step By Step
28 It's Not Right But It's Okay
29 I Learned from the Best
30 If I Told You That
31 Heartbreak Hotel
32 Million Dollar Bill

More Bumper Wisdom

 

  • God is my co-pilot, but the Devil is my bombardier.
  • I don't have a license to kill. I have a learner's permit.
  • Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
  • EARTH FIRST! We'll strip-mine the other planets later.
  • If you can read this, I can hit my brakes and sue you.
  • Save the whales! Trade them for valuable prizes.
  • My wife keeps complaining I never listen to her (or something like that).
  • Constipation causes people not to give a crap.
  • Alcohol and calculus don't mix. Never drink and derive.
  • Stop repeat offenders. Don't re-elect them!
  • Veni, Vedi, Visa: I Came, I Saw, I did a little shopping.
  • What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?

Movie Review ... End Of Watch


end_of_watch_poster‘End of Watch’ is one of the more successful films in the ‘video footage’ genre.  Often these movies are an excuse to make a cheaply made production requiring little effort or logic.  Thankfully Director David Ayer utilises this format to tell an engrossing story.  Its biggest success is its authenticity as its protagonists attempt to survive in a tough world.  Providing an urgent immediacy to events proving just how effective the ‘shot from video’ format can be.
 
Brian (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike (Michael Pena) are police officers keen on their job.  Capturing their daily duties for a film project, their professional and personal bond is unshakeable.  It needs to be strong for the various people they soon encounter.  Thieves, murderers and drug barons are within their sights as life on the streets slowly turns into a deadly battle-field.
 
Amongst the expected car chases and shoot-outs, ‘End of Watch’ thrives on its characters.  From Gyllenhaal’s and Pena’s dedicated cops to their colleagues and the public they deal with, you genuinely believe in the situations they face.  The amount of danger they encounter daily is eye-opening with the lead’s strong friendship ensuring each has the other’s back.  Ayer is careful not to make this into a glorified recruitment movie however as he commendably shows some of the officer’s skewed sense of justice.
 
Occasionally the nature of the cinematography makes events drag although generally the story is consistently engaging.  The grainy shooting style adds to the gritty atmosphere with the dark streets given a more sinister appearance.  Although the script has an overall arc, the moments featuring other types of crimes effectively give an overview of the typical situations law enforcers endure.  
 
If the ‘Paranormal Activity’-style movie has put you off the ‘video footage’ genre, then ‘End of Watch’ should redeem it.  With a good blend of action and drama it also allows one to further appreciate the dilemmas officers face as they go about their normal duties.
 
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Movie Review  7 / 10
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
If you have any comments to make about this Movie Review, then please use the comment box, titling your comments with Movie Review End Of Watch
Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at current movie releases in Australia.

DVD
SOUNDTRACK

Cool Images 30 November

 

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Rod Stewart – Merry Christmas Baby


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The two-time Hall of Famer has teamed with Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter David Foster to record Merry Christmas, Baby the first Christmas album of his five decade long career. Features duets with Mary J. Blige, Michael Buble, Cee Lo and Ella Fitzgerald.
Track Listing:
01. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 4:31
02. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 2:48
03. Winter Wonderland 2:26
04. White Christmas 3:49
05. Merry Christmas, Baby 3:53
06. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! 2:51
07. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? 3:43
08. Blue Christmas 3:30
09. Red-Suited Super Man 3:11
10. When You Wish Upon A Star 3:47
11. We Three Kings 3:27
12. Silent Night 4:24
13. Auld Lang Syne 3:45


An Anthony Perkins Moment

 

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Trivia Bits 30 November

 

  • The Latin term genius loci means the distinctive aspect or spirit of a place.
  • Beginning with “P”, the term given to an umbrella designed to provide shade from the sun is Parasol.
  • Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was held in Westminster Abbey London on June 2, 1953.
  • Lactic Acid is also known as milk acid.
  • Traditionally a Diamond Jubilee is held to mark 75 years,
  • Interpol Agent Lorna Campbell in the 2003 movie Johnny English was played by Australian actor Natalie Imbrulgia.
  • Finnish comic strip author Tove Jansson created the Moomin series of books.
  • London’s famous Parliament clock tower has been renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
  • Sulphur Creek is in the Australian State of Tasmania.
  • Daniel O’Connell was the 18th Century Irish politician who was called The Liberator.

Imaginative Playground Designs

 

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My early childhood memories include the many hours of playing with siblings and friends in the local playground. By today’s standards, they were somewhat primitive and simplistic yet our imaginations transported us to the high seas to protect ourselves from barbarous pirates. Seesaws became bucking horses as we rescued those in trouble across the plains of strange and illusive countries. Sand pits and the areas between the pieces of equipment became the narrow paths that led us deep into the jungles of faraway places as we kept alert for many a ferocious animal or someone who would bring us into extreme danger.

Swings, monkey bars and sandboxes are the usual sights we would expect to see in children’s playground. Denmark-based design and architecture firm, Monstrum, creates playgrounds that are visually stunning. Focusing on design, motor challenges and safety as their core, Monstrum plays with imaginative designs for kids to play in, with creations like big blue whales and surreal houses, to submarines and jet planes. It’s like a life-size visual dream for kids.

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For more inspiration go Monstrum’s site by clicking here