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If you haven’t read the book, but have seen the movie, try to forget it completely. While the movie was a lame excuse to fuse two of Hollywood’s favourites (Will Smith and CGI), the book is a fantastic study into psychological complexities given a basic behavioural framework. The book is broken down into nine short stories, each detailing an apparent breakdown in one of the (now well-known) three laws of robotics, and the unexpected outcomes and resolutions of each. This book revolutionised the science fiction genre and is a must read for anyone interested in robotics, psychology, or artificial intelligence.
For not much more than a couple of dollars per pen, it doesn’t get better than the Pilot Super Grip. In terms of ink on paper, it’s about as good as a ballpoint can get – deep black ink, 1mm ball for solid lines, and no imperfections for inking artefacts. It feels good in the hand, too. It’s light weight while still feeling solid, and the grip is comfortable without being too soft. In personal preferences, the weight distribution is good for pen spinning, and the clip breaks off easily without affecting the mechanism to give you something to chew on.
It’s a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum as to whether this show appeals to so many people because it’s so funny, or whether it’s so funny because it appeals to almost everyone. Either way, it is laugh-out-loud funny for the whole time, and the story, themes, music and characters are instantly relatable. The live puppeteering, whilst noticeable at first, quickly feels completely natural to the show. This isn’t the kind of night out you’d take your conservative grandparents to, but I can’t imagine anyone with a sense of humour and open mind not enjoying Avenue Q.
“Magic isn’t real,” Simon tells us at the start of his show; “Think of it as live special effects.” He tells us he’s going to trick us; and he challenges us to catch him out – we can’t. It’s amazing to think that there are magicians this talented living among us. You’d think they’d have made all our watches disappear and changed all our $20 notes to $5s. Let’s just hope they’re all like Simon. His seamless blend of supreme illusion and quick witted patter makes this hour fly by, and the only thing I wish is that it was longer.
A lot of restaurants suffer from a lack of atmosphere when there are not many people there. The Piermont Restaurant, on the other hand, is the opposite. We were one of only three groups there, and the quiet ambience, soft lighting and open fire made it a great place to have dinner. The wine list is largely local, with some interstate favourites thrown in, and the food is well structured with some contemporary takes on provincial classics (such as the mint pesto served over the roast lamb rump). A lot of effort goes in each dish, and it certainly shows.
As far as relaxing locations go, it doesn’t get much more relaxing than Piermont Retreat. Situated right on the beach, looking over Great Oyster Bay to Freycinet National Park, you’ll see no cars, hear no phones and be able to spend your days taking in the natural beauty and enjoying the local food and wine. The rooms are more than comfortable (and surprisingly well fitted out with TV, DVD and stereo). There’s also the option to pay a little more and have a cabin right on the beach – this’ll give you all of the above, plus a kitchen and fireplace.
With the stage set as an elaborate, sprawling, three-story family home, it’s hard not to be impressed with this show before the actors even walk out on stage. But then they do, and suddenly it’s clear that Simon Phillips has put forward one of MTC’s greatest ensemble pieces. Letts’ darkly comic family circus is instantly identifiable, and is given perfect place by the outstanding cast – especially Robyn Nevin displaying unwavering versatility as the acerbic, drug-addled matriarch. The only thing I’m unsure about is whether it’s too early to single out “August: Osage County” as MTC’s best play of the season.
With dark painted wood, and shaded windows, you’d never know how thoroughly pretty Madame SouSou is. Leather bench seats, art all over the walls, and very friendly staff make this an extremely comfortable restaurant. Then you add the wonderful flavour combinations of the beautiful French cuisine and you’ve got a great night out. My chicken balantine with sweet onion puree was a perfectly delicate and juicy surprise, and the culinary magic that was the chocolate fondant was soon voted on our table as “the best desert ever!” For a beautiful dinner that won’t break the bank, I recommend Madame SouSou.
Of course, with the best actor Oscar and all, I knew that Sean Penn was going to be good in this film, but I really wasn’t quite prepared for just how brilliant his portrayal of Harvey Milk was. There was very little to fault in this movie. The writing and directing were great, and the editing perfectly blended the performance footage with the archival footage from the 70s. And as far as performances go, there was no one bringing the tone down. It was truly eye-opening, and genuinely moving; which is a rare thing in to find in a film.
There aren’t many shows of which I’ve watched every single episode. ‘Scrubs’ is one of these shows, and with season eight they’ve shown that they’re not running out of ideas. There’s always been an emphasis on showing the main characters interactions with the new interns, but this season they’ve really closed the loop and we see J.D., Turk and Elliot as the teachers they started off looking up to. The comedy is still just as classic, and the plot closes for the season with some major changes. And I’ll admit to almost tearing up a little during the last episode.
