December 2009
1 post
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Movie Review – Avatar (2009) – 4.5 Stars
Every so often, a movie comes along to further define the ‘Epic’ genre. These are films like ‘The Godfather’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’. And with ‘Avatar’, James Cameron has booked himself a second seat at that table. The scale of this film is majestical, and it’s clear that no expense has been spared; not just with the CGI, but with props, costumes, and sets. The...
November 2009
29 posts
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TV Review – Dead Like Me (Season 1) – 3 Stars
Death can be a hard topic for a TV show to deal with, so you credit is due for a show that’s found a unique way to deal with death every episode. The main characters, themselves, are dead. They’re Grim Reapers (though, without the cloak and scythe), assigned the task of removing souls from bodies prior to their deaths. The material is handled with a darkly comic touch and, though the...
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Restaurant Review – Domanis (Main Beach QLD) – 2...
You have to worry when, even with only half a dozen tables filled at a 150-cover restaurant, it still takes 45 minutes to bring your breakfast. This could be forgiven if the food was outstanding, but with fairly basic bacon and eggs, and the only slightly more exotic ‘ranch’ style eggs on a cardboard tortilla, there wasn’t too much positive to say about the meal itself. The location, though,...
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Movie Review – 9 (2009) – 2.5 Stars
This movie does have appeal, but not if you value coherent and structured storytelling over visual impact. The plot jumps all over the place – admitting or ignoring various story points without explanation. The animation is impressive, though; and the bleak, post-apocalyptic world is nothing if not starkly detailed. I think my biggest issue with this film is the lost potential. There was a...
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TV Review – Californication (Season 2) – 3 Stars
For a show that I’m surprised even made it past the first preliminary briefing meeting, I’m impressed that it’s made it to its second (and now slated for a third) season. This second season re-hashes many of the themes from the first (it’s hard not to when the entire premise is built around one characters philandering ways), but the performances remain strong, even if some episodes blur into...
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Event Review – Pearl Jam (Etihad Stadium) – 4...
Every so often we all need a lesson in the modern history of Rock and Roll, and even at 44 years of age, Eddie Vedder is a fantastic teacher. Sure some things have changed – he now swigs red wine, rather than beer, on stage; but the passion, the attitude, and the music remain the same. Touring their new album, ‘Backspacer’ (which I’m forced to admit I’m yet to buy), they mixed new with old...
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TV Review – Andy Richter Controls The Universe...
I must have been expecting too much from the second season of ‘Andy Richter Controls The Universe’. I’d figured that Fox must have had some inside information to renew this show out for a second season despite the lacklustre first season, but I guess not. And the fact that five of the thirteen second season episodes were produced but never originally screened would seem to suggest that they...
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Movie Review – Jackass: The Lost Tapes (2009) –...
There’s very little to say about ‘Jackass: The Lost Tapes’ aside from that if you enjoyed the original show and subsequent movies, you’ll probably enjoy this; and if not, it’s certainly not going to change your mind. I was surprised to see how much of this footage was recycled, and how much of the rest of it may well have been. There aren’t any new ideas, and it seems somewhat...
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Restaurant Review – The Quarter (Melbourne VIC) –...
Much like a fancy sports car, the loud chatter and buzz means that you usually hear The Quarter before you see it. And, sticking with the sports car metaphor, it plays on the attention it gets as more and more people look over to see what the fuss is about. That fuss is over decent food and great coffee, in a café environment that defines the laneways of Melbourne. Make sure you’re...
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TV Review – Dog Bites Man – 1.5 Stars
When a show has to tell you explicitly how it’s trying to be funny, you know there’s a problem. Two episodes into this season about a faux news team, the title sequence was changes to include a caption detailing that the members of the public being interviewed were, in fact, not actors. Maybe this was necessary due to how bad the rest of the acting was, or maybe early audiences simply weren’t...
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Movie Review – Falling Down (1993) – 4 Stars
Having originally seen this movie when I was about 12, it was a very different experience watching it again this week. At the time, I’d appreciated the humour and juxtaposition of a man in a shirt and tie shooting up fast food restaurant. This time, however, what stuck me was how well Ebbe Roe Smith, Joel Schumacher and Michael Douglas have captured William’s nothing-to-lose desperation and...
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Restaurant Review – Michel’s Patisserie (Melbourne...
As a disclaimer, this is not a review of Michel’s Patisserie in their capacity as a provider of cakes and pastries, rather their ability to furnish me with a light, café-style breakfast, as their sign suggests they can. If you can provide fancy tarts, flans, and friands; fruit toast should be easy. I can’t say I’ve ever made a gateau, but I’ve baked raisin toast. That’s why, when I ordered...
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Movie Review – Star Trek (2009) – 3.5 Stars
The fanboy culture is so ingrained in the concept of ‘Star Trek’ that it mush have been very hard for J.J. Abrams to put together an incarnation as accessible as this. But accessible, it is; and a very entertaining sci-fi action adventure at that. Zachary Quinto seems perfect as a new generation of Spock, with his years as the pseudo-human Sylar in ‘Heroes’ standing him in good stead. ...
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Product Review – Dorco Platinum ST300 Razor Blades...
I recently bought a sample pack of blades to try out in my safety razor. The first set of blades to be sampled were the Dorco Platinum ST300s. Honestly, the only reason I’m glad I started here is that everything will fell good in comparison. The blades suffer from an uneven sharpness that leaves you feeling a pull even when it’s sharp. They’re too rough on first shave, and though they do...
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Movie Trailer Review – Tucker and Dale Versus Evil...
Movies are usually told from one angle, but did you ever want to hear the other side of the story? Maybe it’s just a big misunderstanding? That’s the premise of ‘Tucker and Dale Versus Evil’, an independent film by Eli Craig, just waiting to be picked up by a studio. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are two country boys who accidentally scare some city campers, but get a surprise themselves when...
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Product Review – Western Digital Elements 1.5TB...
Taking lots of digital photos, and backing up an extensive CD and DVD collection can quickly burn through the gigabytes, so when you’re looking for a simple way to add digital storage to your computer, it’s hard to beat the simplicity of a Western Digital Elements USB2 External Hard Drive. It’s the simplest form of plug-and-play, and at a little over 10c per gigabyte it’s very cheap. The trade...
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Movie Review – Sleep Dealer (2008) – 4 Stars
The sci-fi genre has become saturated with fast paced action recently, so it’s good to see Alex Rivera take a slow paced approach to tell a beautiful story. The advanced technology, despite playing a major role in the film’s plot, takes a back seat to character development and social commentary as we see Memo and Luz’s relationship develop and understand the implications of living in the...
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Restaurant Review - Fuji Teppanyaki (Moonee Ponds)...
Food and entertainment often go hand in hand, but rarely as they do at Fuji Teppanyaki. A personal chef juggling knives and forks is a great way to whet the appetite, as is simply being able to see the plates of fresh meat and vegetables just waiting to be cooked. It was a great introduction for someone like me who hasn’t eaten teppanyaki before, with our friendly chef cooking exactly to our...
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TV Review – Important Things With Demitri Martin –...
Demitri Martin is a smart bloke – his stand up comedy speaks for that. It’s also good to see someone trying a new format of TV show. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end with ‘Important Things’. The format is repetitive, and the content is bland. The theme of each episode of the show is built around one ‘important thing’ (eg, power, coolness, or chairs), and jokes, sketches pranks...
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Restaurant Review – Patee Thai (Fitzroy VIC) – 4...
In the last week, I’ve eaten from Patee Thai twice, both for take-away and dine-in. And I’ll let you know that it has surpassed Sala Thai as my favourite Thai place in Fitzroy (and the full house at an early Sunday dinner sitting would seem to indicate that a fair few people agree). The décor and staff seem very authentic, and the food is wonderful. Sweet creamy curries (my favourite being...
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Theatre Review – When The Rain Stops Falling (MTC)...
After describing the plot of ‘When The Rain Stops Falling’ to someone who hadn’t seen it, I was asked how the time-shifts had held up on stage. The answer, in this case, is a little iffy. As far as staging goes, it was handled well, often with overlaps, but always with a clear understanding of where was when. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always clear who was who, and three quarters of the play...
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Restaurant Review – Endis Café (Fitzroy VIC) – 2...
Next time I’m down this end of Brunswick St looking for a coffee and a quiet lunch, make sure I walk the extra twenty or so meters to Atomica, rather than stopping at Endis. They serve out the usual café fare, with burgers, pizzas, and focaccia; but they all end up a little bland, despite the variety of ingredients used. The whole place has the feel of someone simply going through the motions...
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Movie Review – Cloverfield (2008) – 3.5 Stars
Over the years, I’ve had mixed feelings about monster flicks, and I really thought that ‘Cloverfield’ would be one I wouldn’t enjoy. I’d heard the talk of the shaky camera, lack of back-story, and frenetic pacing to keep the run-time down to just over an hour – but combined, I think it worked. These three points all merged to give the movie a panicked feel, tying you in to the emotions of the...
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Restaurant Review – The Apartment Lounge Bar...
It’s a tough gig to call yourself a “Lounge Bar Restaurant” and pull it off. The closest I’ve come across to successfully managing the combo is World. Then there are others that end up as too much of a bar, and while The Apartment tries to manage it with separated dining and bar areas, there’s no segue and the result is less than comfortable. The menu is succinct, missing many lunchtime...
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TV Review – Andy Richter Controls The Universe...
I got the tip off to watch ‘Andy Richter Controls The Universe’ from a list of TV shows cancelled earlier than they should have been. Unfortunately, I disagree. This show is mediocre at best; lacking subtlety, endearing characters and clear writing. Most of the laughs come from jokes at the expense of the physical appearance of characters, and though the first episode sets up the story...
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Movie Review – A Christmas Carol (2009) – 1 Star
From what I hear, it cost Robert Zemeckis about $200 million to make his adaptation of the Dickens classic, ‘A Christmas Carol’. Personally, I feel it would have been more powerful of made for one percent of that figure. In a piece of reverse logic any philosopher would be proud of; motion capture was used with the human actors to make the computer generated human characters look more like...
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Book Review – ‘The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear’...
I’ve never grown out of that childhood need to hear a story before bedtime. It can be a novel, a histoy, or even just a well rehearsed shaggy-dog tale. ‘Bluebear’, in the similar vein of train-of-thought fiction as Hitchhikers Guide, falls neatly into all three of these categories. Detailing the accounts of a blue bear called Bluebear and his travels through the continent of Zamonia, this is...
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Restaurant Review – Gaylord (Melbourne VIC) – 3...
With a fit-out like this, you could be very well be sitting in an opulent dining hall in Rajistan itself. The courteous staff aid this feeling, as does the complex aroma drifting from the tandoor oven in the kitchen. The menu is extensive and the food is great. The heartily spiced curries have more body behind them than many Indian restaurants are serving at the moment, and the garlic naan...
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Movie Review – Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog...
When you give the mind of Joss Whedon a clean slate upon which to produce a short serial, ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’ is what you get. These are the musical adventures of Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) as he attempts to conquer his Super Hero nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion); and Billy (Horrible’s alter-ego) as he attempts to woo the heart-of-gold Penny (Felicia Day). It’s...
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Restaurant Review – Shark Fin House (Melbourne...
Yum Cha is a great way to eat with a big group, and Shark Fin House is a great place to eat Yum Cha. It’s busy, and from what I’ve heard, it always is; but with the efficiency and number of staff patrolling the floor, that doesn’t mean you’ll go hungry. As well as being plentiful, the food on offer is wonderfully varied – it didn’t take long to lose count of the options available. It’s also...
October 2009
31 posts
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TV Review – Dollhouse (Season 1) – 3.5 Stars
Sitting somewhere in and around the sc-fi, crime, mystery, and adventure camps, ‘Dollhouse’, whilst not being up with Joss Whedon’s best, is certainly worth watching. With a premise built around the separation of the body and the mind, the versatility of the actors is put to the test, and in most cases, (including in impressive surprise performance from Miracle Laurie) shines. As per other...
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Restaurant Review – Penang Coffee House (Hawthorn...
From the fitout, you could be sitting in any monochrome kitchen from the early nineties. The service, however, is very different and reminiscent of Hawkers Café, with staff laying down patter and joking around as they served. The menu is extensive and relatively easy to get your head around, but not being too familiar with Malaysian food, some of the dishes were not quite what I was...
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Game Review – Canabalt (Browser) – 4 Stars
It’s the pixelpocalypse; and, armed with just a snazzy suit, it’s time to run. There are other simple and addictive games out there, but with only one button, it really doesn’t get any simpler (or more addictive) than this. Created for a game development competition with the theme, ‘minimalism’; Canabalt succeeds where ‘Jumper’ failed, and draws you into a story without revealing any...
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Restaurant Review – Café Vamp (Hawthorn VIC) – 4...
Living in Fitzroy, it’s easy to forget that cafés like this exist can outside of Brunswick St. But exist, they do. And they serve some very nice food in a very relaxed manner as well. Sitting in private school central on Glenferrie Rd, the mis-matched chairs and indie-rock concert posters on the wall seem somewhat out of place, but a breakfast with this much bacon (or smoked salmon, if...
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Website Review – Wordle – 2.5 Stars
It might not be art, but some of the visualisations that Wordle creates certainly are interesting to look at. Wordle works by creating a word cloud based off a text input. The more often a word appears, the larger it is in the cloud. The image on the left is a section of the one for the 100 Word Reviews archive, but you can see others I’ve created from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and the King...
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Restaurant Review – Undertaker Dining Room...
There’s certainly an audience for Undertaker Dining Room out there, but I’m not sure who it is. They’d need to be the kind of person who’s willing to be served by an emotionless robot, sit in an eclectically decorated dining room, and pay in the high-$30s for an overly complex meal that is quite good – but not as good as you’d expect for the price. It is pleasant, though, and I had a very...
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Bar Review – Misty (Melbourne VIC) – 3.5 Stars
It still manages to surprise me to go to a bar in the city where you can sit around comfortably, and have a conversation without shouting. I guess that’s what happens when your bar becomes a test case for the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over noise levels. Misty’s got a great drinks menu on offer, with a huge variety of beers, an extensive cocktail list, and a selection of...
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Restaurant Review – Spicy Noodle Café (Melbourne...
Everyone likes a solid feed for under $10, and that’s what you’ll find at Spicy Noodle Café on LaTrobe St. You order based off pictures on the wall, and while they do provide a limited form of table service, your raffle ticket number is what gets you your meal. The food, like the service, is more focussed on speed and size than flavour; so while you will get back to your desk in time to file...
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Movie Review – Puddle Cruiser (1996) – 3.5 Stars
The ‘Broken Lizard’ boys had to start somewhere, and that place is ‘Puddle Cruiser’. While not quite at the standard that its younger brother, ‘Super Troopers’, achieved, it’s still a very funny movie. It centres on the budding relationship between Felix and Suzanne, yet the main source of laughs comes from the judicial process surrounding Kevin Heffernan and Paul Soter’s characters, after...
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Restaurant Review – The Groove Train (Melbourne...
If an extensive menu and a quick meal is what you want, then you could do a lot worse than Groove Train. If you’re looking for quality food, pleasant service, and a nice atmosphere, then try somewhere else. The food is satisfying in the same way that watching a Seinfeld re-run is – it’s reasonably pleasant while you’re watching it, but as soon as you’ve finished, you’ve already forgotten what...
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Movie Review – Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) –...
‘Capitalism’ is a true example of a movie in two parts. For the first hour, Moore jumps between topics never holding a theme longer than it takes to watch a family cry. Here we learn about the seedy side of pay disputes, life insurance, and re-mortgaging your house. The second hour of the movie, however, tells a great story of the cause, effect, and implications of the financial crisis and...
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Restaurant Review – The Baths (Sorrento VIC) – 4...
It’d be tough for another restaurant too have a more relaxed feel than The Baths. The chairs are comfortable, the fit out’s clean, and the whole place literally sits right on the beach, so as you can imagine, the view is beautiful. It doesn’t stop there – the food is brilliant, too. Our lunch provided us with a spectacular duck and mushroom gnocchi, featuring tender shreds of confit duck...
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Music Review – Hey Young Believer ‘Invisible By...
Listening to ‘Invisible By Day’, the debut LP from San Francisco three piece Hey Young Believer, made me feel like I knew the band; or more to the point, that they knew me. The album followed me through my day – ‘Tidal Waves’ bounced me out of bed, ‘Waking Up On The Floor’ forebode my day at work, ‘The Funeral Shuffle’ got me through the paper pushing, ‘Walking Over You’ accompanied my...
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Website Review – Google Wave – 2 Stars
I recently got my hands on a Google Wave invite, and I have to admit that I’m not that impressed. Don’t get me wrong, I think the technology is great, it’s a bit of fun, and I do subscribe to their idea that Wave is “what email would be like if it were invented toady”. Unfortunately, I can’t see it garnering the broad use that they’re looking for. As a development experiment it’s a good...
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Restaurant Review – World Restaurant and Bar...
World Bar has changed its look a couple of times, but still manages to provide a nice casual dining experience for a reasonable price. As the name would suggest, menu variety is the name of the game, with lamb burgers next to lentils and steaks next to souvlakis. It can get busy at times, with menus, drinks and meals being misplaced, but these issues are all handled with a smile and quick...
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Event Review – St George Melbourne Marathon 2009 –...
This was my first half marathon, and only my second competitive run, so I don’t have much to compare it to. I really enjoyed the run itself, and was great culmination to my training. It did seem, though, that corners had been cut with the race organisation. On the run, the distance markers were few, far between, and placed as to be very difficult to see; and distance-wise, the fact that the...
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Restaurant Review – Stax (Melbourne VIC) – 3 Stars
If it hadn’t been for YourRestaurants (but more on that another time), I’d have never known about Stax, hidden at the top of the city, just behind Swanston St. I’m glad I did find out about it though. A wide variety of cheap and tasty food, and brilliant coffee make it a nice option for lunch. My creamy chicken and bacon pasta was solid lunch, even if the sauce seemed a little watered down. ...
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Event Review – A Day In Pompeii (Melbourne Museum)...
Everyone’s heard the story of Mount Vesuvius erupting over Pompeii, but it takes an exhibition like this to truly understand what it meant. The exhibition is spread out nicely, with the first area dedicated to how the inhabitants of Pompeii used to live (with some amazingly preserved displays of household and garden items, and even carbonised food), while the second area described the eruption...
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TV Review – Freaks and Geeks – 4 Stars
As a cultural study, ‘Freaks and Geeks’ is a success on two levels. On the surface, it’s a great view of the tough world of high school in Carter/Regan era Michigan. Under that surface, however, is a snapshot of actors and filmmakers who would become powerhouses on the late 00s. There’s James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Jason Segal (to name a few), under the production of Judd Apatow. The...
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Restaurant Review – Hawker’s Café 2 (Hawthorn VIC)...
Some restaurants draw you in with flavours and aromas, others with talk and service. Hawker’s Café is an example of the latter. It was somewhat of a surprise to have such a friendly face taking our orders and offering suggestions without feeling like we were being up-sold. After that, it was little things: a glass of water whilst waiting for our take-away order, and descriptions of other...