Predators (USA, 2010)

Yeah, so, remember how I was all down on cinema and not interested in movies? Well we had a sporting break on another cheap night, and when the invitation came down to go see Predators, I couldn’t resist. After all, I have much love for the original film and its under-rated sequel, and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the dreadlocked hunters in action. Because there have been no films featuring them since the 90s. None.

And it was mostly a great popcorn flick. I enjoyed it, on average. Some of it I really enjoyed. Some of it I was bored. The whole final battle made no sense at all, as did the introduction of a second variety of Predators who act exactly the same as the first variety, except they maybe squat-and-roar-in-triumph a bit more often. Having the classic monster humbled by the new monster is a fine way to garner cheap heat, but nothing at all was done with it.

But! Exactly as advertised, there were a bunch of morally-dubious anti-heroes being stalked and killed one-by-one by alien hunters, and that was fine by me.

The highlight: when all the cast gather ’round as one of their number spends a full minute describing, in some detail, the complete plot of the original film.

The other highlight: realizing that the key moment in the trailer wasn’t actually in the movie, but was a quite different movie scene digitally altered specifically to create that key moment in the trailer.

The recommendation: watch as a cheap video with friends, or as a cheap movie with friends, or don’t, because whatever. Actually, watch Predator 2 again, because Danny Glover and Gary Busey, that’s why.

—

So I guess I’m cured, right?

The Knifeman, following that earlier movie-blah post, sent me a challenge to only watch unpopular movies for six months. “At the end, your view of movies will almost certainly be altered forever.” It’s tempting, but I’m going to decline, if only because I don’t want to spend the last six months I have before baby arrives banned from watching movies that might be good…

I invite him to share the details of this challenge, or speak more of the value of such an exercise, if he is so moved.

I like to be / Under the sea

Paul the Octopus has a perfect prediction record in the World Cup.

We all live in the octopus’ garden now.

[Octopi are very smart creatures. You present it with two boxes labelled A and B, and it goes to A and finds food. Then you present it with A and C, then A and D, then A and E… mostly it’ll go to A because it has learned that A holds tasty food, and it isn’t sure about the other option. Germany’s winning record meant Paul’s tendency to go for the familiar option was a sound strategy.]

[Of course, Paul is still psychic because he knew to go to the other option in the Serbia game.]

Things only NZL cares about dept.: the only undefeated team in the World Cup = NZL.

Frid-Oink! Linky

Still busy, as you can tell from posting frequency. Still, some linky for a rainy Wellington Friday.

Twilight Eclipse: The interactive YouTube experience, performed as an 8-bit game. Weirdness. More my speed: the not-your-regular-critics insight of What do young women really talk about when they talk about The Twilight Saga: Eclipse?

Fuhgeddabout the Broadway Julie Taymor/U2 failstravaganza Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. The webbed wonder already has his rock opera, Spider-Man: Rock Reflections Of A Super Hero – and you can experience the best 70s-tastic songs from it right here.

Dr Bunny brings the science with a round-up of great reality-based linky that you should really check out. Includes bonus Elmo!

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have been eaten by ghosts

Oink! was mentioned mid-week, re: Frank Sidebottom. It was bloody great, that comic. Find out more here. Read some early, great issues here. And buried in the NotBBC site is this magazine based on the TV show the Oink! team all worked on next, Round The Bend.

But the biggest delight I’ve had in googling up Oink! was discovering that the two songs on the bonus flexidisc that came with the first issue are up for listening on Tony Husband’s site. I haven’t heard these songs in at least twenty years. I still know all the words. Glorious. (Apparently John Peel played them on his show!)

And finally, via William Gibson of all people, the trailer to Beach Girls and the Monster

Frank Sidebottom RIP


I didn’t know what the hell to make of this when I was a kid reading Oink! comic. One of those inexplicable British things that, as a Kiwi kid, you encountered from time to time in the UK’s pop-culture output.

Frank Sidebottom was the creation of Chris Sievey, and it was somewhere between comic genius and outsider art. Sievey died last week, only 54 years old.

Frank Sidebottom was punk. He was, he really was.

Lew Stringer discusses Sievey’s Oink! work.

Google also turned up this lovely story.

Woo-woo Linky

Everyone was either too polite or too stunned to comment on the fact that I went to see Titanic twice on the big screen. Or perhaps you assumed I was coerced or sedated at the time. No. You’re all very kind though. Yes, I did have high levels of post-Aliens residual loyalty to Jim Cameron, but the truth was, I liked it enough to go see it a second time by myself. Because that’s just how I rolled back in ’97-’98.

Business in the age of LOLcats: the New York Times explores the business behind I Can Has Cheezburger. Fascinating.

You’ve already seen Matt Smith joining Orbital to close Glastonbury with their Doctor Who theme mix, right? EDIT: this version is still live

Now, check out Orbital doing the theme at Glasto 2004. And this remix which says its from one of the Orbital DVDs. There are others.

But if you’re talking electronic music and Doctor Who, it’s time to find out about Delia Derbyshire. Start here:

Now this:

That should have you curious enough to seek out more yourself. She’s worth it.

What’s Up Doc – live

Via mundens, a pin-up calendar with a difference

A great Philadelphia article from ’08 about the perfidy of the MBA and how it’s ruining business. MBAs appear to be the world’s only tautological qualification: you qualify for an MBA by qualifying for an MBA, and holding an MBA is a demonstration of the fact that you hold an MBA.

The Sci-Fi air show

Via Pearce: Bruce Campbell’s Soup

Hey, y’all reading Achewood, right? Online comic strip that I’ve called the most important comic strip since Peanuts? The story right now – oh man. It is blowing my mind you guys. If you haven’t read it for a while, the storyline that’s destroying me starts here. (Warning: not for the uninitiated – you’ll probably find it incomprehensible if you don’t know the characters.)

And finally… Country Hip-Hop dancing

Emissions Trading Begins

The NZ emissions trading scheme launches in NZ today. It’s a market-based mechanism putting a price on carbon emissions as a means of holding back climate change, or more correctly, a step towards full-cost accounting in the environmental arena.

It’s a good thing. The ETS is riddled with holes and problems, according to sources I trust (e.g. this book co-authored by the very smart economist and all-around good egg Geoff Bertram), but fundamentally I’m pleased that we’ve managed to get a price of some kind on at least some of the carbon emissions generated out of NZ. There has been a fair bit of shouting about the ETS, including a protest at Parliament and lots of letters to the editor, but my impression is that these objections didn’t run deep – the public perception is in support of an ETS (c.f. Now We Have Won).

The Key government has delivered something worthwhile here, for all their many flaws. Yes, it is a full six months after the deadline Key set for imposition of the ETS, but it’s still 2010 – not too late to get changes rolling. So Key, in the end, wasn’t a Rodney – well, not as much of one as I feared. I suspect Nick Smith deserves some kudos for this, because you can be certain he was talked to about backing down from the ETS plenty of times but he has withstood this pressure. Well done that man.

The international effects of this will not be small, either. We are another country putting our markets where our mouths are, and even if we’re not nearly at the level the science calls for, we’re part of a growing consensus that action is needed and needed now. Our ETS will influence our trade partner nations and others besides. It’s a worthy and important position in which to be.

It’s important to note, however, that this isn’t the end of the story, but rather the long-delayed beginning. As Bertram & co’s book notes, our ETS needs to be improved, made more fair and comprehensive and convincing. Ordinary households are going to feel the bite at the petrol pump and the power bill, with corporations relatively insulated from the new costs – that needs to change. Popular support for the ETS needs to continue at the current level despite the extra costs starting to pinch. Indeed, popular support for the ETS needs to grow. It’s a massive communications challenge and one the current government will think twice about working on, especially if it starts to hurt their electability. Once again, the responsibility falls at the feet of ordinary people like me and you to think about the scheme, judge the costs worthwhile, and spread that message around.

Anyway. It’s a good day. I’m happy.

Double-Hit Films

My grumpy post about how I’m not excited by film at the moment has sparked lots of great comments about good movies (and good television).

Svend asked, “Are you disenchanted with the act of communal cinema-going, the film format, or the sorts of stories that tend to be told in film?” To which my answer is, “yes”. Which isn’t helpful. I haven’t self-analysed very much, and suspect that I’m just going through a DIFFICULT PERSONAL TIME in my relationship to movies. But it’s still the case that I think I want sitting down in a cinema to feel like a significant jolt away from the ordinary run of things, and I’ve half-convinced myself I’m not going to get that. If I was to click back through this very blog I would probably find evidence to the contrary in the recent past, but enthusiasm is low regardless.

So I got to thinking about times when I got that jolt enough that I went back a second time. Movies that I went to see twice on their first run, while they were fresh in the cinema and in my memory. How many? And what does that say about me?

I can think of five:





Diagnoses welcome.