Saturday, May 16, 2015

Movie Review ... Mad Max: Fury Road

 

Mad Max Fury Road poster‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ sees the resurrection of a series last seen thirty years ago.  Time and tastes have changed although the stylised action and wondrous cinematography is still evident in the series’ fourth outing.  Minus Mel Gibson in the lead and a vague re-boot rather than continuation, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ re-introduces the character for a new generation  As before the thin story is a mere conduit for George Miller’s direction to go into over-drive with his character’s mad escapades still drawing awe.

Mourning the loss of his wife and child, Max (Tom Hardy) listlessly walks amidst a post-apocalyptic landscape.  Seeking to restore order in a savage world, his mission is aided by rebel leader Furiosa (Charlize Theron) eager to return home.  Together they fight a hoard of mis-begotten miscreants determined to claim the land as their own. 

In spite of a somewhat mis-leading title, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ delivers as an all-out action extravaganza.  Miller clearly enjoys creating new ways in which his characters defy death with each stunt more awesome than the last.  Coupled with spectacular cinematography embracing the richness of the film’s surrounds, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ effectively stands out.  Lovingly displaying every explosive sequence in broad comic-book tones, Miller successfully maintains the series’ roots in sci-fi/action territory.

Whilst an engaging romp overall, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ falters in its use of characters.  Although clearly defined, too much focus is given to Theron’s role.  As Furiosa, her character almost over-shadows Max making the movie feel like a spin-off from the franchise rather than a true Mad Max film.  Hardy does his best to put his mark on a famous role, even if it often seems like an extended cameo in his own movie.  Everyone has fun performing the high velocity skirmishes ensuring ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is a consistently enjoyable experience.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone if ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ marks another run of sequels.  Hopefully it will build on the success mostly established with this instalment.  Next time further focus on the main protagonist should work wonders in re-storing an Australian cinematic icon.

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Movie Review Rating out of 10:  7

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie releases in Australia.

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Trivia Bits 16 May

 

Yarralumla

Located in the suburb of Yarralumla, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Yarralumla (pictured) is the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia where the Governor-General presides over meetings of the Federal Executive Council, and holds investitures to present honours within the Order of Australia and associated Australian military, bravery and civil decorations.

The first person to actually sustain controlled, powered flight was Richard Pearse of New Zealand in an advanced flying machine of his own design and construction when on 31 March 1902 he flew about 350 yards, and on 11 May 1903 flew over 1,000 yards and including several turns.

A locum is a person who temporarily fulfils the duties of another eg a locum physician is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician when that physician is absent, or when a hospital/practice is short-staffed.

The two smallest continents in area are Europe and Australia.

Aromatherapy is a term coined by French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé in the 1920's to describe the practice of using essential oils taken from plants, flowers, roots, seeds in healing.

The Black Tree Fern is the largest of the tree fern species endemic to New Zealand can grow up to up to 20 m tall.

Indian cricketer, Palwankar Baloo, who bowled left-arm orthodox spin with great accuracy with an ability to turn the ball both ways, was a Dalit also called Untouchable who helped break down the Indian caste system with his prowess at cricket in the early 1900’s.

First run in 1986, The Marathon des Sables, known as the world’s toughest ultra-marathon, is held in the African country of Morocco through the Sahara desert being a six-day, 251 km (156 mi) ultra-marathon, the equivalent of six regular marathons.

Since opening in New York Harbour in 1892 and after processing more than 20 million immigrants, Ellis Island closed in 1954.

Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether, was crowned the winner when the "Miss America" pageant made its network TV debut on ABC In 1954.

Quotables 16 May

 

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Friday, May 15, 2015

Trivia Bits 15 May

 

Janis Joplin

American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin (pictured) was twenty seven when she died after being one of the major attractions to the Woodstock festival and the Festival Express train tour.

Cynophobia is a fear of dogs and is from the Greek: κύων kýōn "dog" and φόβος phóbos "fear".

Located in China, the Lop Desert is on the whole flat, but with three slightly more depressed areas which might form lakes if filled with water - the Lop Nor dried basin, Kara-Koshun dried basin and the Taitema Lake basin.

The American company car manufacturer, Tesla Motors, made the Tesla Roadster the first fully electric sports car with prototypes introduced to the public in July 2006.

Katee Sackhoff is best known for the role in the American military science fiction television series Battle Star Galactica which first aired as a three-hour miniseries in December 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel.

In 2014 Mercedes AMG Petronas won their first Formula One Constructors Championship following their one-two finish in the Russian Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton gave the team their 13th victory of the season, while team mate Nico Rosberg made it a one-two for the team.

The Seleucid era or Anno Graecorum was a system of numbering years from the return of Seleucus I Nicator to Babylon in 312 BC and is often designated AG.

Ned Kelly was born at Beveridge, Victoria, Australia spending most of his short life in north-eastern Victoria, the ‘Kelly Country’ of folklore, tourist promotion and Bertram Chandler's 1983 fantasy novel of that name.

The first Superman in Superman's publication history, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, was portrayed not as a hero, but a villain in the short story The Reign of the Superman published in January 1933.

The peninsula occupied by Spain and Portugal is known as the Iberian Peninsula being located in the extreme southwest of the continent of Europe with an area is approximately 582,000 kmsq (225,000 sq mi).

Quotables 15 May

 

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Trivia Bits 14 May

 

blue-ring octopus

The most deadly species of octopus is the blue-ring octopus (pictured) that live in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from Japan to Australia mainly around southern New South Wales and South Australia, and northern Western Australia.

The 1841 German language opera The Flying Dutchman was composed by Richard Wagner who conducted the premiere at the Semper Oper in Dresden in 1843.

Australia is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils; desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land and is the driest inhabited continent with only its south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate.

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition established in 1930 and prior to the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil, the host country Brazil had won the title five times.

The largest moon in earth’s solar system is Ganymede and is a satellite of Jupiter.

David Hicks, an Australian who was convicted by the United States Guantanamo military commission under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, on charges of providing material support for terrorism was detained in Guantanamo Bay from 2001 until 2007.

American artist Bill Watterson is the creator of the famous strip Calvin and Hobbes which was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995 and follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger.

The epidermis of the mantle, an organ in mollusks, secretes the calcium carbonate that creates their shell.

In the game of Scrabble, there are eleven letter E tiles.

From the Asian cuisine of Vietnam, Bánh mì is a filled bread roll with fillings that may include steamed, pan-roasted or oven-roasted seasoned pork belly, Vietnamese sausage, grilled pork, fresh cucumber slices, leaves of the coriander plant, pickled carrots with spicy chili sauce, sliced chilis or mayonnaise.

Quotables 14 May

 

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Trivia Bits 13 May

 

  Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes (pictured)  was an ancient statue of the Greek god Helios erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC.

Premiering on 4 March 2013, British television crime drama Broadchurch stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman and is set on the Dorset coast centring on the death of an eleven-year-old boy, and the search for his murderer by detectives Alec Hardy (Tennant) and Ellie Miller (Colman).

The symbol Au for element gold is from the Latin aurum.

On the 7th of March, 1856, workers in Sydney belonging to the Stonemason's Society were the first workers in the world to gain an eight hour working day reduced from ten hours, and is celebrated in Australia by the holiday, Labour Day.

Lemon zest, garlic and parsley are the three main ingredients in the traditional gremolata herb condiment which is a traditional accompaniment to the Milanese braised veal shank dish ossobuco alla milanese.

The main female role in the 1994 American action comedy film True Lies was played by Jamie Lee Curtis, with the movie written and directed by James Cameron, co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and was an extended remake of the 1991 French film La Totale!

Irish Catholic priest Father Ralph de Bricassart is one of the main characters in the book The Thorn Birds, a 1977 best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough which in 2003 was listed at number 64 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

Buffalo, zoysia and couch are all types of grass often used in establishing lawns.

In 218BC Punic Carthaginian military commander Hannibal marched an army, including elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.

2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation starred Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, and Fumihiro Hayashi.

Quotables 13 May

 

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Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Trivia Bits 12 May

 

The Bridge of Sighs

The Bridge of Sighs (pictured) is in the European city of Venice where a local legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs as the bells of St Mark's Campanile toll.

Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse are characters from William Shakespeare’s play The Comedy of Errors thought to have been written sometime between 1589 and 1594 with the earliest performance thought to be in Gray's Inn Hall on 28 Dec. 1594.

The Gondwana Rainforests are located on the border of the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland and are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world with the Forests including 50 separate reserves totalling 3,665 square km.

Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music for the musical Chorus Line which opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway on July 25, 1975, and received nine Tony Award awards, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The walnut is used in the traditional Greek dessert melomakarono which is an egg-shaped Greek dessert made mainly from flour, olive oil, and honey filled with ground walnuts and is prepared primarily during the Christmas holiday season.

Initiated by Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes, Soccer Aid is a biennial British charity event that has raised over £15 million in aid of UNICEF UK and is a football match between two teams of celebrities and former professional players, representing England and the Rest of the World (RoW).

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces held in the years immediately after World War II being most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany.

The 14th-century Lennoxlove House in East Lothian, Scotland contains many important artworks and artefacts, including the death mask of Mary, Queen of Scots.

As at 2013, Australian novelist and short story writer Tim Winton has won the Miles Franklin Award four times in 1984 (Shallows), 1991 (Cloudstreet), 2002 (Dirt Music) and 2009 (Breath).

Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player Paul Kelly released the album Deeper Water in September, 1995 on Mushroom Records in Australia.

Quotables 12 May

 

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Monday, May 11, 2015

Trivia Bits 11 May

 

Lord Hopetoun 

On January 1 1901 the new Commonwealth of Australia began with the proclamation of the Federal Constitution and the swearing in of Lord Hopetoun (pictured) at Sydney's Centennial Park with NSW Protectionist leader, Edmund Barton, leading the first Commonwealth Ministry.

In 2013, the Asian city of Shanghai had an estimated population of 24,150,000 people.

Unveiled at the 2005 American International Toy Fair, Shadows Over Camelot is an Arthurian-themed board game that features a siege engine and a progression of evil for the players to use in their quests.

Bay of Pigs in 1961 was an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. Government.

The series of books in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the British author Douglas Adams features the well-travelled character called Ford Prefect which is the only character other than the protagonist, Arthur Dent, to appear throughout the entire Hitchhiker's saga.

The popular Malaysian drink bandung is pink in colour which consists of condensed milk flavoured with rose cordial syrup.

The town of Fixham Harbour is a fictional place from the 1998 British children's animated television Bob the Builder.

The 2014 American romantic comedy-drama film The Fault In Our Stars features the characters Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.

Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas won three gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

British naval officer and colonial administrator Captain James Stirling was the first Governor of Western Australian from 30 December 1828 although it was not until 4 March 1831 that he was commissioned as Governor of Western Australia.

Quotables 11 May

 

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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Trivia Bits 10 May

 

Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson (pictured) sang the 1961 hit Hello Mary Lou written by U.S. singer Gene Pitney which appeared on Nelson's sixth album Rick Is 21.

French, Sexual, Mexican and Digital are examples of revolutions.

David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz were long standing hosts of the Australian review show At The Movies in which they discussed films opening in cinemas that week.

In Athens' historic Plaka district, the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments, or MELMOKE is a small museum showing that there is more to Greek music than Zorba's Dance by displaying rows of wood and bone flutes, pottery drums called toumbeleki, and gaida - bagpipes made of sheep or goat skins.

Taum Sauk Mountain and its neighbours in the St. Francois range are believed to be one of the few spots in the central US that may never have been submerged under ancient seas.

Irish singer-songwriter Brian McFadden gained fame as a member of the boy band Westlife formed in July 1998 and disbanded in June 2012 although Brian left the band in 2004.

English sailor William Bligh accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage around the world (1772-74), and in 1787 commanded HMS Bounty on an expedition to the Pacific.

After 25 years of service and flying 85 million kilometres, equivalent to 110 return trips to the moon, a jumbo Qantas Boeing 747-400, The City of Canberra was retired in March 2014 to an aviation museum based at Illawarra Regional Airport and still holding the record for the longest ever non-stop commercial flight for its trip from London to Sydney in 1989.

American professional boxer and a cultural icon of the 1920s Jack Dempsey was nick-named Manassa Mauler as tribute to his place of birth in Manassa, Colorado in 1895.

The 1938 novel Rebecca was authored by English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier and has been adapted to movies with best known of these being the Academy Award winning 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film version Rebecca, which starred Sir Laurence Olivier as Max, Joan Fontaine as the Heroine, and Dame Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers.

Vintage Celebrities As Mothers

 

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Mary Tyler Moore with son Richard

Deborah Kerr and daughters

Deborah Kerr and daughters

Gloria Grahame with son Timothy Ray

Gloria Grahame with son Timothy Ray

Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Wilding, Jr

Elizabeth Taylor & Michael Wilding, Jr

Deanna Durbin and daughter Jessica

Deanna Durbin and daughter Jessica

“Happy Mother’s Day” In Many Languages

 

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Albanian: Dita e Nns

Arabic: Eid Al-Omm

Armenian: Mayrutyan or

Bengali: Shubo Matri Dibosh

Bosnian : dan majki

Catalan: Feliç Dia de la Mare

Chinese: Mu Qin jie kuai le

Croatian: Sretan Majcin dan

Czech: Den Matek

Danish: Tillykke med mors dag

Dari: Ruz-e Madar

Dutch: Gelukkig Moederdag

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Estonian: Emadepev

Finnish: itienpiv

French : Fte des mres

German: Muttertag

Hebrew: Yom ha'em sameah

Hindi: Matru din

Hungarian: Napját kivánok

Icelandic: Mradagur

Indonesian: Hari Ibu

Irish: L na Mhithair

Italian: Buona festa della Mamma

Japanese: Haha nohi omedeto

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Kannada: Ammandira Dina

Korean: Omoninalul chukahamnida

Latvian: Mates diena

Lithuanian: Festa della mamma

Malay: Hari Ibu

Malayalam: Ammamar Dinam

Maltese: Jum l-Omm

Montenegrin: Dan majki

Norwegian: Mors dag

Persian: Rouz-e Maadar

Polish: Szczesliwego dnia matki

Portuguese: Feliz dia de las Mães

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Romanian: Ziua mamei

Russian: S dnëm Materi

Slovak: Den matiek

Slovenian: Materinski dan

Spanish: Feliz Día de las Madres

Swahili: Liepstacoq Bua

Swedish: Har den äran på Mors dag

Tagalog: Araw ng mga Ina/Nanay

Tamil: Annaiyar Dhinam

Turkish: Mutlu Anne Günü

Welsh: Sul y Mamau

Yiddish: A gliklikhn Mutertog

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Cupcakes for Mother’s Day

 

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Vintage Mother’s Day Cards

 

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Vintage Celebrities with Mothers

 

Bette Davis and mother

Bette Davis and mother

Roddy McDowall and mother

Roddy McDowall and mother

Tyrone Power and mother

Tyrone Power and mother

Claudette Colbert and mother

Claudette Colbert and mother

Ginger Rogers and mother

Ginger Rogers and mother

A Mother’s Love in Art

 

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Happy Mother’s Day 2015

 

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Quotables 10 May

 

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