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Listening to San Francisco four-piece Dubious Ranger is a bit like watching an animation and trying to pick the voice actors. You can hear the various musical influences throughout, but it’s difficult to pin down exactly what they are. They describe themselves as a “union between high-art, classical-virtuoso pretension and take-your-pants-off rock and/or roll” and I think that’s the best way to describe this album. Guitarist, Jonathan Eccles seems to have an arsenal of styles at his disposal, from the cowboy disco of ‘Weapon’ to the jumpy jazz ballad of ‘French Song’. If you get the chance, have a listen.
Every so often you hear about a movie that sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. That’s exactly what I thought when I head about ‘The Tournament’. The premise is simple: a 24 hour battle to the death between thirty of the world’s best assassins, all competing for ten million dollars and the chance to be known as the greatest hit-man. Throw in Robert Carlyle as the innocent bystander forced to fight for his life and it looks like a fantastic combination of ‘Death Race’ and ‘Wanted’. Check it out yourself, but I’m looking forward to it.
It’s not much to look at, but The Mess Hall is a fantastic place for a meal. The atmosphere is buzzing, and the ultra-trendy staff go out of their way to make sure you’re comfortable – if you’re lucky you might get a table upstairs. There’s a good value Italian wine list that perfectly suits the succinct, but delicious menu. I loved my rack of lamb, cooked perfectly rare with roast artichokes and asparagus. And the most amazing thing about this place is that it’s serving the quality of food that you might expect to pay twice as much for, elsewhere.
The brass band’s on stage, the lingerie-clad women and tight-panted men start dancing, and then Caroline O’Connor and Sharon Millerchip sing. This is true musical theatre. The characters fit perfectly with Millerchip’s ‘Roxie’ seeming to take lessons from O’Connor’s ‘Velma’ in both show business sleaze and jazz vocals. The choreography and staging are simple but perfect for the show, and the relatively small chorus works twice as hard and easily fills the stage. There’s also pleasant surprises from Craig McLachlan as ‘Billy Flynn’ and Gina Riley as ‘Mama Morton’, both of whom you’d assume must have never left the stage.
I know they’re not really good for me, but I think if I’m going to snack on something sweet and tasty at work, it’s probably better that I have one of these, rather than chocolate or a packet of chips. It’s good to be able to read an ingredients list that you can understand. And in this case, it’s: peanuts, chocolate, sultanas, honey, rice crisps, and sesame seeds. That’s it – nothing unpronounceable. They are a more substantial snack than a standard muesli bar, in terms of both calorie content and ability to fill you up, but they certainly taste good.
Let alone taste, I’ve never cooked as steak that LOOKED as good as the one I cooked last night. The hotplate fired up and seared both sides to a delicate golden brown, then a couple of minutes on each side on the grill gave it beautiful dark tan grill lines, while keeping it perfectly bleu inside. Also, the even heating on the hotplate, and some time with the hood closed served to crispify the skin and bake through a thick fillet of ling. The temperature spread feels very consistent and can be adjusted very quickly. I think I’ll enjoy this!
This was the second time that I’ve seen the Hilltop Hoods live, and I’m glad to say that this time, I didn’t leave with a head wound! Promoting their new album, ‘State of the Art’, the Hoods perfectly balanced showing off tracks from this new album, with perennial audience favourites. All of these were then further enhanced by the large-screen cartoon slideshow, matching the songs. The sound at the venue was great, with all lyrics coming through loud and clear. Canadian support act, ‘Classified’ was a great surprise. Hadn’t heard his stuff before, but will be on the look out.
