s h ! n d ! d

WTF?!?

Heath Ledger died! OMFG! What is with Hollywood and tragedies this month? Has the writer’s strike given too many people too much spare time or something? Why is everyone dying and killing?

I can’t believe it was Ledger of all people.
I can’t believe how much of a proud Aussie I’m suddenly being, but it’s true; he was one of our best young actors. I don’t usually toot the Ledger or Aussie horn, but #1 I’m no flag wearing Aussie and #2 I thought Ledger, despite his talents, was often portrayed as a pretentious artist type. At least he wasn’t a bogan.
The first I saw and liked him in was as the timid shaven legged gay teen cyclist “Snowy” in SWEAT – the Aussie teen drama set in an elite athletics high school. Followed by Roar with Kerri Russel.

Come to think of it, he’s been consistently good in all his roles… Not all the films were good or necessarily made sense though (Ned Kelly or I’m Not There), his best IMO (this is before Dark Knight has been released though) were Candy, A Knight’s Tale, Two Hands and Brokeback Mountain (despite my complaints about Brokeback’s actual film storyline).
Especially see Candy! Not the happiest film – infact I’d say it’s one of the most depressing films I’ve ever seen (and Pink’s Who Knew video totally stole from that film shot by shot!). I’ve been looking so forward to his role as Nolan’s Joker in the new Batman film. I’m highly anticipating brilliance – it’s Nolan, Bale, Ledger and Gyllenhaal! How can that go wrong?!

Other great Aussie actors (and great work) I’m actually in awe of most of the time:
Geoffrey Rush – Shine, Quills, Harvey Krumpet(!!!), Lantana, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Carribean
Toni Collette – Muriel’s Wedding, Cosi, 6th Sense, Little Miss Sunshine, Dirty Deeds, Japanese Story
Rachel Griffiths – Six Feet Under, Cosi, Muriel’s Wedding, Amy
Cate Blanchett – EVERYTHING!
Bryan Brown – Dirty Deeds, Cocktail, Two Hands
Joel Edgerton – Secret Life of Us, Ned Kelly, Star Wars, The Hard Word
Hugh Jackman – Paperback Hero, X Men, The Prestige, Swordfish
David Wenham – Cosi, Gettin’ Square, Lord of the Rings, Three Dollars, 300
Ben Mendelson – Metal Skin, Cosi, Amy
Noah Taylor – The Year My Voice Broke, Almost Famous, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Priates of the Carribean
Anthony Lapaglia – Lantana, Looking for Alibrandi, The Guy that’s brought back Soccer to Australia – YEH!
Deb Mailman – Secret Life of Us, Rabbit Proof Fence, Play School(!)
Guy Pearce – The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Dating the Enemy, L.A. Confidenial, Memento, The Proposition
Hugo Weaving – The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Interview, The Matrix, LOTR, Peaches, Little Fish
Last Note: IMDB tells me Ledger was even in Ship to Shore!!!! What a freakin great show that was! Kelvin was cool!
*Doot doo-doo dododododo-doooo, dododododoo doot doo doo, dododododoo doot doo doo, doot doo dododoo doo doo*

I’m finally here. After all that stressing about cash, the immigration people didn’t even bother to check my bank balance. Phew!It’s cold in Canada. I’m all nice warm and dry in the hostel for the time being. Currently in Quebec City in the province of Quebec! I walked this evening judging how much longer I could stand a soggy left foot, when I looked up and there was a beautifully lit citadel towering above me! Very Disney… but better and real.

It’s so cold here, as I walked to the city centre I saw snow on the footpath! I think it was a plowed pile, cos that was all there was of it. It’s been raining – trickles of rain the whole time I’ve been here. Need new shoes and coat. I’m getting wet. I also need a haircut.

Whilst walking the main street of Kingston a woman stopped me and handed her salon’s business card with an offer of a discount. Do I look that bad and poor? I am very inspired to get my hair done in trendy ole Canada.

Canada is a very intelligent, cultured, cosmopolitan and a very liberal country so far. People in this part speak French, and English with a French-Canadian accent. People communicate a lot, love gourmet food, care about their hair a lot, wear smart glasses and big warm coats. Unlike most of the USA there are interracial couples and same-sex couples everywhere everyday. It’s amazing how different things are here to the US. It’s also unbelievably natural, beautiful, old and European!

I stayed low key watching films and going to exhibitions in Montreal – saw the Museum of Contemporary Art and chuckled with artistic jealousy at the work of Vik Muniz. Watched Into the Wild, the true story of adventurously spirited Chris McCandle aka Alexander Supertramp as he lived in the wild in Alaska. I was very inspired to do the same as I fear I have so many of the same beliefs, but none of his aptitude or will – especially when it comes to hunting, skinning and gutting your own food… egh. Also, Brand upon the Brain a new super 8 silent film narrated by Isabella Rosellini. Quirky!

On a spur of the moment with no accom or tickets, I decided to see Tegan and Sara in nearby Kingston. Tickets sold out, but I lucked out at the door with strangers. Cheap too! Got real close. Sara looks too skinny. Got pics. They’re better with a home audience.
Seemed like a Tegan fueled night – as I suspected the new album was. Kicked off withCall it Off and lots of new stuff followed by Under Feet Like Ours stuff by an emo 18 year old Tegan. Then a mix of stuff (all my faves were played!). Then they did a crazy New Order-esque keyboardy version of Rhiannon’s Umbrella! It was actually really good! I hope there’s a good bootleg somewhere. I wished they had recorded it!

Giggled to their silly sibling bickering and useless everyday anecdotes about getting haircuts and going to illegal parties in your twenties. I like musicians who share stupid regular stories on stage… like John Mayer. They played at the Sydenham United Church which turned out to be a pride church… I didn’t know they existed! Crazy Canadians! It was very bizarre seeing pride colours in a church, let alone a band!

Kingston is a small town – mostly uni students (there are two unis). Lots of nature and old buildings. I walked with a frog at night. Scared I might run into a bear soon… What does one do in that situation?

In New York saw the Guggenheim, the Museum of Natural History, For the Bible Tells Me So, Romance and Cigarettes, Bloc Party at Madison Square Gardens, Arcade Fire, Les Savy Fav, LCD Soundsystem and Blonde Redhead (check them out!) – to add to the already long list of things I did culturally.

The End.

This afternoon saw Sydney Film Festival launch their new branding and website for the year.
Having worked for the organisation two years ago, as a marketing intern, mostly looking after their website, I have a lot of thoughts on the festival, the business and their marketing, both warm and lukewarm. In retrospect – mostly the former.

I think it was a wise decision to hire Precinct, a graphic design firm to handle their visual identity – the previous graphic designer was cool, but this way there are more resources and minds (or minions ) brewing new ideas now. The images are quite sophisticated and contemporary, though not quite as cutting edge as it is aiming to be. Yet.

I’ve also noticed they switched their web company from SiteSuite in Broadway (nice chaps), to Fusefarm – probably got their cue from Sydney Festival, who also used them for the first time in 2007. So far the website is okay, not loaded with gimmicks or unnecessary flash-doodads. Has a simple blog feel about it – very common at the moment. Still, it’s nothing that screams “monumental film festival here!”.

It’s hard setting up an annual festival, let alone start it from scratch with new companies on board. This isn’t a negative breakdown of the festival. In fact, SFF had a few good fortunes and made some wise decisions in recent times of crisis.

Like many not-for-profit organisations (and more so of NFT Arts organisations), the festival has not been without drama. In recent years, the festival was rumoured to be over $400,000 in the red, not to mention a few follies or disgruntled experiences with media. This was however, at a time of crossovers – with staff changes, major sponsors missing and changes in ticketing/audience behaviour.

Let’s see. The former role of CEO, Marketing Manager, Artistic Director and Programs Manager seem to have changed and balanced out somewhat between a Partnerships & Development Manager, Executive Director, Sales & Marketing Manager and of course the Programs Manager (the wonderful Jenny Neighbour). Hopefully, the workload is more bearable and fruitful. They’ve also realised there is more accountability in paid staff, over interns. A new Website Coordinator position has also emerged.Staff have moved to a more modest location in Sydney. Or so I’ve heard… Let’s hope there’s a few windows that let the fresh air in guys.

They’ve also changed their Public Relations firm since 2005. A much needed decision – however in these early days I’ve not heard a peep about the festival… (Working in PR myself at the moment, I’m noticing this.)

There might even be a bit of the annoying little cousin syndrome this year, with the inaugural Sydney Underground Film Festival running in September (after the hype).

In the last three years the infrastructure of management has changed both in titles and staff members. Hopefully, this coupled with new healthy grants and a positive growth in ticket sales (via the flexi-pass) will lead to a financially sound year for Sydney Film Festival. They’re still in a time of change and development in order to achieve set artistic, communal and financial goals, so we’ll have to see.

Sydney Film Festival launch their program 9th May, 2007.
The festival runs throughout Sydney City 8th – 24th June, 2007.

Most people seem to be doing some “year in review” blogging atm, so I might do the same but concentrate mine on a more escapist topic: movies of 2006. You may recall my list from last year…
Trusty ole David and Margaret had this to say about their films of 2006 on At the Movies.
Granted, I haven’t seen as many films as I would have liked this year, here are my picks of the year in random categories I thought up (many of my faves are fillers…):

Best Australian Film: Candy (and also the most depressing film of the year)
Best Comic Book to Film: Superman Returns (for its cheesiness) or V for Vendetta (for its top-notch execution)

“Where they Serious when they greenlighted it?”: A History of Violence and Hard Candy

“Was the object to talk about God?”: Junebug and March of the Penguins
Strange Recommendations: Jindabyne

Music Film: Dave Chappelle’s Block Party

Overrated: The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Brokeback Mountain and DaVinci Code

Coulda Been Better: A Scanner Darkly

Social Conscience Award: Brokeback Mountain (In that, I mean it wasn’t a great film, as much as it was an important film for greater society to recognise issues within.)
“Was that a real baby or CG?”: Little Man and Children of Men

Favourites:
=1. The Departed
=1. The Prestige
=1. Where the Truth Lies
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Devil Wears Prada
4. Short Bus
5. Capote
6. Brick
7. Memoirs of a Geisha
8. Chumscrubber
9. 2:37
10. C.R.A.Z.Y

Chick-Flicks & Cheap Thrills:
Material Girls
Devil Wear Prada
Take the Lead
Final Destination 3
The Holiday

I missed it at the movies pile:
Art School Confidential
Pirates of the Carribean 2
The Black Dalilah
Chicken Little
Monster House
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
DOA
Beerfest
The Covenant
The King

Overall, I didn’t like 2006 for its films or otherwise. I thought there were too many offbeat quasi-indie films actually produced by large studios, that just missed their point and their audiences. I found these films to be at most arthouse cinemas and found them lacking and therefore depressing. I would personally liked to have seen more cheesy blockbusters – not so much sequels – at least this way you know you are guaranteed to be entertained.
There seems to have been a large emphasis on 3D animations, and many I heard great things about. Pity I didn’t see many, perhaps I will catch up on a few soon.
Side Point: Why is “happiness” spelt “happyness” with a “Y” in the title of the new Will Smith feature: “The Pursuit of Happyness”?? I hope it’s of relevance to the film, cos if they’re trying to spread some cool hip way of misspelling words, I might just spit the dummy.

To finally have one, that is.

I saw The Holiday last night – new chick flick with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black. AWESOME! Been a while since I saw a chick flick, and it was one of the best. Cheesy script in some places (Cameron Diaz has a habit of making me cringe with her dorkiness). Drop dead gorgeous moment when Jude Law kisses Cameron Diaz on the eyes and the bit as Mr. Napkinhead. Winslet does this heartwrenching schpiel about the one you don’t want to let go of. Oh, and in case you don’t know, the story is: Diaz and Winslet live in England and L.A, respectively, they exchange houses for a holiday to escape their love lives only to fall in love with Law and Black. Respectively.

Cliche, but I love those. I’ve not heard so many sniffles in a cinema since watching Notebook. Proud to say, I didn’t cry though! Also, kept thinking the following through it:

• Kate Winslet was especially funny in that show Extras - when she talks crass and dirty.
• Jude Law is way too orange for an Englishman. Needs less tanning.
• Shannyn Sossamon was in it! Surprise again! I’m a shameful fan, how could I not know what films she’s in – happened with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as well. Delightful surprise.
• Jack Black is great. Could do more nice guy roles in romantic comedies, I imagine.
• I want to celebrate Hannukah with Jewish Nannas and Pops.
• Movies have been so worth is lately. The Prestige is also fan-frickin-tastic! Go see it!