0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
31.12.13 : The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - movie
Adventure | Comedy | Drama : A day-dreamer escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. Great visual direction and cinematography, and quite interesting, it just some technical points, like who swaps an expensive skateboard for and old rubber toy, that seam weird. A visual treat that is quite nice. Slowly ramps up to a 3.75
30.12.13 : The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug - movie
Adventure | Fantasy : The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. I can't say I was bored any time during this 2 hour 40 minute epic, but it was hard to tune into what was going on. The problem with fantasy is that there is a lot of gobbledegook spoken that is unrelatable, because you haven't seen the characters they are talking about yet, and it this initial non engagement that makes you tune out and not pay attention. There was more substance than the first movie, but because the first ¾ of the film doesn't travel that fast it's was easy to get distracted - people were texting, looking a watches, talking, etc -. It wasn't bad, but there was nothing that made it felt like it was anything but more of the same. Last ½ hour was ok. 3
28.12.13 : Boating - tube riding : Georges River - Picnic Point
Cuts, abrasions, black eye, and a sprained finger is what to expect when you get towed behind a boat in a tube - and that was the good tube specifically designed for towing behind boats -. I think with a few mods we can make this really dangerous.
24.12.13 : Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - movie
Comedy : With the 70s behind him, San Diego's top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm. Instead of using conventional comedy they went with abstract surreal comedy, and ultimately the bizarreness got annoying and unfunny. I could handle the first hour, but the second hour got very tedious. 2
19.12.13 : Rock With Laughter : Star Casino
I'm pretty sick of comedy - I've seen so much that unless it's killer it doesn't do much for me -, but this show was so good that it blew away the black clouds for a couple of hours. A decent sized crowd turned up - it's always better with more people if they are specifically there for the comedy - and nearly all the acts were good - Mikey Robins was a bit average, but that's ok because he was the MC -. Michael Hing is finding more joke jokes - he's adding zingers to the stories that get genuine laughs -, as opposed to just amusing story type comedy. Rhys Nicholson can turn up anywhere and get laughs because he's so inappropriate. I don't know why more young people do go and see AoA, because every time I go there is someone in the audience - I usually look around for reactions - who hasn't seen them before losing their sh*t at how relatably funny they are. I mustn't have seen AoA for a while, because even I was blown away tonight. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
17.12.13 : Delivery Man - movie
Comedy | Drama : A guy finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity. They went for the senimental angle rather than the comedy angle, and even though it's a bit clichéd I found it ok. 3.25
11.12.13 : P52's Christmas Spootaculara To End All Specdraculas (feat. Free to A Good Home) : Hermann's Bar
It didn't start very strong, but the last 2/3 was good. The first half was variety show. It had some standup, a sketch, impro, and comedic parody songs - this is where it got better -, but the best part was the second half podcast recording of Free to A Good Home. The safe way to record something for latter transmission is, record at lot and edit ruthlessly. Unfortunately, these long recordings are not ideal for live audiences, and was the problem of the first live show, but this one was concise and tight, and that made it better because the laughs were closely packed all the way through. The score ramped up from 3 to 3.75 so I averaged my score..Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
10.12.13 : Ender's Game - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formics. On paper it looked like a POS - kids in Sci-fi are a turn off -, but this is a pretty decent film. Kids as leads in Sci-Fi's are usually instant death, but it looks like weak emotional kids in Sci-Fi are the turn off, because the kid in this film is a strong calculating character, who was acted very well, and that turned it around to made it quite enjoyable. Worth watching 3.75
07.12.13 : Led Zeppelin Show : South Hurstville RSL
They changed the sets and included a lot of the less common songs, and that made a refreshing change. Good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
04.12.13 : P52 - Spelling Bee Spelling League (Actual Bees) Rnd 3 : Hermann's Bar
A lot of the comedy relies on how clever the judges are at tripping up the contestants and how much of a bunch of crudnics they are toward them. This one was a fraction down on the crudnicness, so it was a touch less funny, but it was pretty close. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
02.12.13 : A Rational Fear LIVE - End of the Fear 2013 : Kings Cross Hotel
It was a return to form. Last time I saw Rational Fear it was being recorded for ABC radio, and because it was a more serious radio station compared to FBi, I think it stifled the proceedings. This was not the best one I have seen but it was still good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
https://soundcloud.com/arationalfear/015-december-2nd-2013-a
01.12.13 : Boating : Botany Bay
We did a lap of Botany that was site seeing and a bit of fishing. I have done Milpera to Taren Point on a jetski, so the other side.is new to me. We saw Botany Container Terminal, airport runways, Sylvania Waters - anyone got a spare million -, Captain Cook Bridge, Tom Ugly's Bridge, the newer bridge along side that we built, jetski racing, the oil refinery, Kurnell, Brighton-Le-Sands. I hadn't been on the water since Nov 1999 so it was a nice change, and the boat launching over the rolling waves felt exactly like a jetski. Cool day. 4
30.11.13 : Kissteria - The Australian KISS Show : South Hurstville RSL
Somehow there aren't enough Kiss songs to do 2 sets, which I would have accepted, but what made it worse was that their first set had songs that I didn't even know. A Kiss tribute is the only cover band that I haven't seen yet, and even though I don't like Kiss they are such a big band with so many hits I'm going to know most of the songs. Unfortunately the problem with this band was the first bracket started with unknown original songs, then obscure covers - basically ½ an hour of rubbish -, and coupled to the fact that they were so loud that earplugs didn't work, I left. The place was packed, but within 30 minutes 1/3 of the crowd left. I wouldn't recommend this band. Crowd : na - Me : 0
30.11.13 : Splendid Chaps Do Sydney - Monsters & Villains : Roxbury Hotel
It was about 30% comedy, 60% over analysing things that were never intended by it's creators to be analysed, and 10% other. The analysing bit was like Jennifer Byrne's Book Club reviewing Dr Who. Because Dr Who is basically a childrens show, it was probably too serious and intellectual compared to the original intention of Dr Who. Most of the audience were technophiles - middle aged men - so they loved it, but because I'm and entertainmentphile it was only half fun for me. The panel were pretty young, and that makes me think an older panellist, or Pat Magee, would have related better to me. It was ok, but after post the podcast should be good. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 3.5
29.11.13 : The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : Katniss and Peeta become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem. I didn't like the first, and was definitely going to skip this one, but I had to use my pre-bought ticket or throw $13 away. I hated every minute, but the worse bit was that the story never concluded forcing you to go and see another one of these boring films. I had no interest in this film what so ever, so the score is not applicable. na
28.11.13 : Rock With Laughter : Rock Lily - Star Casino
Cameron Knight, Dave Williams, Dave Jory, Dave O'Neil. Free comedy can go either way because people turn up to free comedy with no commitment, paid for comedy means that people want to be there, so free comedy is basically what you make of it. The downside was that the 40 people that turned up all sat at the back of the room, the big gap to the stage was weird, and the opening comics weren't that funny. The upside was that the crowd gave the impression that they wanted to be there, more people turned up latter, and the later comics got better. Dave O'Neil was the stand out. He was dynamic, excitable, very quick with the gags, and never gave a hint that the situation wasn't ideal, and for that I'm elevating his status to one of my top comics. Dave was great, and the crowd thought the same because they gave him good applause - Dave 4.25 -. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
27.11.13 : P52 - St Anthony's Hospital Improvised Soap Opera : Hermann's Bar
This was 2 episodes of St Anthony's Hospital with a different cast for each. Not super, but good enough to be entertaining. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
22.11.13 : Nikki Lynn Katt - Blow Your Mind: A Comedy Music Extravaganza : Factory Theatre
I would have accepted nice(mildish) at the advertised $23 entry, but when it jumped to $30 at the door I needed a higher level of LOL comedy. There were 2 warm up comics, and Nikki was sweet with her usual risqué comedy songs, so overall it was fine. It was sweet, cute, and nice. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
20.11.13 : P52 - The LIE-BRARY (a new game-show Chad and Wilson) : Hermann's Bar
Like the TV show Would I Lie To You but with different variations of the games and new games all together. P52 is synonymous for new ideas, and this is a good one, it's just that in needs some refining - maybe hosts that are more in control -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
19.11.13 : Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa - movie
Comedy : 86-year-old Irving Zisman takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8 year-old grandson, Billy, back to his real father. It's Candid Camera stunts on an unsuspecting public loosely woven into the storyline. It's a bit wacky/stupid with the laughs being mainly amusing, but it does have 2 big killer laugh gags. I didn't mind it at all, but I was the one laughing the most. 3.75
15.11.13 : Enough Said - movie
Comedy : A divorced woman in her mid life decides to pursue the man she's interested in, but things get complicated. Not so much funny, but more sweet and nice. I liked it. 3.75
13.11.13 : P52 - The Improv Den #16 - Hospital Soap Opera : Hermann's Bar
It wasn't the funniest one I've seen, but the second half was entertaining enough. The one certain thing about this room is that risk taking and craziness always gets rewarded with laughs, yet no one in the first half went anywhere near crazy enough. There was only one guy in team 2 that got a bit crazy, but other than that the first half was only in the OK area. The second half was done to a theme, so all the impro was one style, and that seamed to limit the craziness. Basically all the scenes were done in exaggerated TV Hospital Soap style, so there wasn't any jumps to something different, and that probably reduced the laughs. But even taking that into account, the pro cast were good enough that it didn't really limit the entertainment that much. Crowd : 3.5, 4.25 - Me : 3, 3.75
12.11.13 : The Counselor - movie
Crime | Drama | Thriller : A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking. It's pretty much like the critics said, one dull POS. The whole thing is full of dull inane conversations with hardly any action, and that makes it slow and predictable. I should've of walked out when half the audience walked out. Crap of the highest order. 0
07.11.13 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories About Travel : Surry Hills Library
The title would suggest one of the less shows - Erotic Fan Fiction Readings and Teen Diary Readings conjure more excitement -, but this show wasn't the lesser at all. A change of host came in the form of Alice Fraser, who squeezed in some of her comedy, with the first travel story coming from Nick Sun. Nick didn't so much have "a" travel story, but rather had lots travel stories delivered at breakneck speed. Nick can be a bit hit-and-miss with me, but this time he was brilliant, and was the best on the night - maybe high speed comedic storytelling should be another form of comedy -. I had heard Andrew Johnston's retelling of another author's story, where a guy gets arrested when he snaps and starts punching people on the bus, but it was still nice. Alex Wasiel went with the story parts of her comedy routine, and that consisted of time she spent in the top end of Australia as a community lawyer. Patrick Magee went with his miss-adventures in UK. Whether he was following a dream, or just following his girlfriend to the UK, is unclear, but you could scene the tragedy in the comedy - hopeful the retelling of the story is cathartic -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
06.11.13 : The Project 52 Spelling Bee Spelling League (Actual Bees) : Hermann's Bar
I was preponderantly elephantine to ascertain with any inordinate certainty the precise connotation of the pre-emptive spiel. Some were saying that it was a serious contest, and some were saying it was a comedy show - it's hard to sense sarcasm in the written word -, but because I'm always up for something new I went for a look. I can report it was funny, and hence a comedy, but it is a bit crazy and quirky - it's more like a Psycho 'I'm going to f*ck you up' Spelling Bee -. The adjudicators/judges that run the contest act as if the Spelling Bee is straight up, but what they actually do is talk BS with a straight face while doing everything in their power to f*ck up the constants. For example, Maddie Parker came to play, but because she won last time the judges made sure she wouldn't even get close by giving her preposterous words with diversionary clues. The 1st round was straight spelling bee words, but any help in the form of a definition, origin, or used in a sentence, were answered with crazy miss direction that was no help at all. Eg, when the contestant had to spell magniloquent, the sentence clue was "You are very magniloquent". The 2nd round was spell the flavour of the nip of alcohol that they have to skull. Round 3 was words from the constants chosen category, and as you would expect they came from categories that were barely relatable to what they asked for. Eg, one constant wanted Australiana words, but got the artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company, Rafael Bonachela. Round 4 was words pronounced wrongly, so you didn't know what the actual word was. Barra-Que-EE was given to the constant instead of Baroque, and if they couldn't work it out they was a given a cryptic clue. If they still didn't get it they could opt for a bee joke. There was plenty of varied madness to keep you entertained, like some constants wore funny customs without explanation, everyone was f*cked up in a different ways, loud sound effects taunted you if you made a mistake, and others. It was mad enough to be lots of fun. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
02.11.13 : Def FX - 2013 Sydney Show : Oxford Art Factory
01.11.13 : Thor - The Dark World - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet. I must've seen too much fantasy - for me it's like the boring generic story in video games - so I tune-out because it sounds like a bunch of repetitive yada-yada-yada. I don't think it effected anyone else, and there was enough eye candy that it was blockbuster good. 3.5
31.10.13 : Wil Anderson - A Work In Progress : Comedy Store
Better than that $50 dull-fest that was Goodwil, and a definite return to the form we expect from Wil Anderson. In Goodwil there wasn't any of the animated excitement Wil is synonymous for, and because it was delivered at normal speed rather than the usual fast talking, it didn't seem to have as much material as we have come to expect. I'm not a fan of trial shows because most are bad, and even though this was not an actual show with material but an ad-lib muck-around to source material, Wil was back to his trade mark hyper animated delivery that gave this show enough energy to make it fun. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
30.10.13 : P52 Halloween Theatresports Spook-Dracula! : Hermann's Bar
The first half was nothing that special, but the second half killed. The first half was that minimalistic inexperienced new player impro, where they get through the Theatresports games without value-adding any clever ideas or humour, so on the whole it was adequate, just not that funny. You could say they were boxed in with a spooky theme for every game, but clever people can usually work around a limitation. The second half came alive with the experienced players doing a great 45 minute block of impro. The scene involved a teacher telling a ridiculous spooky story to his class, where the purple tarantula King was found to have buried his purple tarantula wife in a box. But when she is dug up, she discloses that her son is the bass playing Tony Hawk. It was heaps of fun all the way through. Crowd : 3.5, 4.25 - Me : 3, 4.25
Action | Crime | Thriller : The U.S. government recruits Machete to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space. This is not the fun movie the first one was. The original had outrageous over-the-top violence that made you laugh, but with a semi realistic story. This one had such an over-the-top story that it detracted from the film, plus it had less of the fun violence we loved. It looks like they spent so much of the budget on big name actors, that they only had the work experience boy to make the rest of the film. There was bad continuity, like the bad guy is about to shoot Machete in the head, but Machete just walks out of the room. Also, one minute he is ramming another car off the road with a truck, and the next scene he is lying unconscious in the middle of the desert. Also Danny Trejo isn't a great actor, but that could have been fixed in edit by cutting out the stiff bits. 2
23.10.13 : Rodney Rude - Wrong Hole Tour : Burwood RSL
I hadn't seen Rodney before, but my cousin used to tell me stories from when he was popular, ie, like girls weren't allowed in to see his show because he was so rude - even though he is naughty rude by today's standards, I could see that he was classified filthy rude 30 years ago -, and that intrigued me enough to go and see him. Rodney's comedy has some songs, lots of props, and even more, as he puts it, one-liner school boy jokes. The jokes are simple, but still funny, like he heckled a bald guy with a black and white striped shirt by calling him a Zebra's penis. There was plenty of props, like a stuffed cat with a whistle through it's ass. Unlike Kevin Bloody Wilson, another old timer from the era, I found Rude to be quite funny. There were a couple of songs from the old days - most of the audience knew them -, which I found unfunny because they are dated and I didn't get the "call back" effect of knowing them when they were popular, but that was a minor point. The show is long, so you do get value for money, it's just that it's in two parts with a ½ hour meet and greet merch sales intermission, so you need to be patient. It was funny enough that I didn't feel ripped off at the expensive $54 entry fee, and overall I quite liked it. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
21.10.13 : Thanks for Sharing.- movie
Drama | Comedy : Three disparate characters are learning to face sex addiction. It's hard to take sex addiction seriously, especially if you've seen too much, but it's interesting enough. More drama than comedy, but nothing that's too serious. 3.75
19.10.13 : "The Joke's On Me!" Documentary Showcase & Wrap Party : Exchange Hotel Balmain
This was the final filming of the 10 part documentary TV series, "The Joke's On Me!", which delves into the lives of some of the newer comics - young or old they all were all new to comedy - . 3 were good, 2 were very average, and 3 decent comics stilted their performances because they wanted their recordings perfect for the camera - it's pretty common to lose energy during filming because comics slow down their delivery so that there isn't any mistakes -. Newer comics can be hit and miss, especially for high comedy consumers, but coupled with the 2 pro comics there was enough comedy to be fine. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
17.10.13 : 2013 Theatresports Grand Final : Syd Uni
16.10.13 : Live Comedy : Oatley Hotel
I usually make and effort to see overseas comics, because I've worn out all the locals, but going to Manly on Monday was too much of an effort. I then had an inkling that they would turn up at Oatley 2 days latter, and that's what happened. MC James Masters, Toby Muriescanu and Tom Agna were all fine but a bit low key, but that was fine because the lack of energy was covered up by the novelty value of a first time hearing. Even though I have seen her before, Sally 'Kimpo' Kimpton was best on the night. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
16.10.13 : The Fast and the Far-reaching Advances in Quantum Mechanics : University of Sydney
This main part of the talk covered some the quirky points of Quantum mechanics, but because this is a pet subject of mine it wasn't anything new for me. The other downer was that none of the potential applications of Quantum mechanics were covered in this talk, so it felt like the quirky problems were too hard to solve, and that made it feel like the new quantum physics lab had no purpose except novelty experimenters value. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3
15.10.13 : Enmore Comedy Club - Sheng Wang(USA) : Enmore Theatre
I always try to go to see OS comics - rare stuff has novelty value - and I was expecting just 1, but tonight we had 4 OS comics, and some of the rarer comics that visit Sydney. Ryan Hamilton(USA) - new to me but good -, Greg Behrendt(USA) - seen before but still good -, Debra Digiovanni(USA) - I've only seen her on TV, but she was still very good -, Sheng Wang(USA) - new to me, and low key compared to the other OS comics, but still very good -. Locals were Luke Heggie - always good -, Felicity Ward - rare but still good, and Matt Dyktynski(MC) - rare but nice -. Big line-up of quality comics, very good. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
12.10.13 : Elevation U2 : South Hurstville RSL
As per usual, OK. 3
11.10.13 : About Time.- movie
Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi : At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think. It's simple, quaint, and cute, but you might notice the length of the film in 3 small points when things slow down. The ad nauseam plethora of Hollywood influenced films make films like Rush and this one stand out. Nice. 3.75
09.10.13 : Comedy at the Bridge - Chopper : The Bridge Hotel
I went because it had a decent line-up, but more because I used to see comedy here in the 90's when Christine Adams moved the Harold Park comedy over here when it closed. Returning after a decade the place hasn't changed, even the crowd was similar with some people talking to the comic during the performance. Heath Franklin must really hate doing Chopper because he didn't do the advertised Chopper, but did straight stand-up as a sign of respect of his passing. I don't think anyone would've minded, and most of the crowd actually expected Chopper, and you have to remember that Chopper wasn't a very nice person, and it was just an unfortunate circumstance that it fell on this particular day. Ray Badran was the funniest, with Luke Heggie close behind. Heath was fine, but a bit further back, and went with a similar tack to Luke's berating of stupid people. Dave Williams was ok, but that may be because he was supposed to MC and with Chopper being the main. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
08.10.13 : Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.- movie
Adventure | Family | Fantasy : In order to restore their dying safe haven, the son of Poseidon and his friends embark on a quest to the Sea of Monsters. I'm not a fan of PG because it's usually too juvenile, because it's designed for kids, but this one bucks the trend. The Lightning Thief was one ultra boring retrieve multiple item quest - it's just kill the monsters retrieve the item repeated multiple times -, but this one had imaginative visual CGI challenges and humour. It was fun but a bit corny in places - PG corny -. 3.5
07.10.13 : 2 Guns.- movie
Action | Comedy | Crime : 2 guys rob a bank, but no one is who they seem. It's nothing outstanding but there's enough small twists to pass the time well enough. 3.25
07.10.13 : Gravity.- movie
Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller : An accident in space leaves some some astronauts in need of a solution. Visually it looks good, it's just the dialogue doesn't reflect the gravity of the situation because it's pretty lame and un-serious for such a supposedly realistic and serious film. Also the motion is that unrealistic Hollywood exaggerated stuff - they need a more realistic Physics Engine in the CGI motion processing -. 2.5
05.10.13 : Skills In Time - Chessmates: Kasparov Vs. Deep Blue : Factory Theatre
A chess playing boy finds a robot and they become friends, until one day when they become bitter rivals. I thought this was going to be some historical based show, but it was a wacky way-out totally other story that only used the names from the actual event. Not for me, but there were people in the crowd that loved it. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
05.10.13 : David Cunningham's - The History of Now : Factory Theatre
What a brilliant return to form. I don't know what happened to his last show 14.09.12 : David Cunningham's Evening Learning Humour Symposium : Factory Theatre but I didn't laugh much at all - it might have been me, because it's the only time I didn't find him funny -, but this one I loved. Even though the show jumped to various points in history, it had a rough theme of prominent people in history telling you how to run your life, ie, to be happy, eat happy animals, the average soul takes up 6 square feet, etc. Other things were, ancient dildos, ludicrous pictures on currency, land octopus, beard tax, countries that look like a penis, etc. The highlight of the show - at least for me - was joke from the 17 century, but not because it was particularly funny, but because David had to do a 10 minute lecture of religion in Europe so that you could understand the punch-line. Good. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
05.10.13 : Peter Green - Soccerooted : Factory Theatre
It's the story of a kid with a mild soccer interest, that becomes a fan of the sport. Peter also covered soccer in Australia, and our World Cup bids - mainly how farcical things were -. This is one of those lovable little shows that is more interesting funny, ie, the laughs may be a bit mild, but that doesn't detract from it at all. I liked it. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
04.10.13 : Rush.- movie
Action | Biography | Drama : A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda. I only started watching F1 when Alan Jones started winning(1980), and finished when Ayrton Senna died(1995), so for me it was very interesting to find out what happened in this era. I was surprised to find out Hunt was a playboy, and even more surprised at Lauda's decision at the end, so there was quite a few revelations that made this movie quite interesting in my eyes, and coupled to this being a realistic drama, I found rather good. 4
04.10.13 : Steen Raskopoulos - I Wear Two Suits Because I Mean Business : Factory Theatre
22.06.13 : Steen Raskopoulos, SpringSTEEN Live In Concert : Factory Theatre was fine, but this one is better. What I don't like about sketch is those long dead unfunny build-ups with one mild gag at the end, but tonight Steen had the laughs coming during the build-up. There was also shorter sketches, and more of them - good for us short attention span people -. More energy, more fun, and a lot more actual laughs. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
03.10.13 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Erotic Fan Fiction Readings : Surry Hills Library
It's seams like two types of people go to this show, the people that want literary content, and the people that like the entertainment value. Going for entertainment, Tom Ballard started with a very confronting take on the show Breaking Bad. It was confronting because the sexual acts were so descriptive and filthy it had some people squirming in their seats, but I liked it and though it was quiet funny. Anne H. Cayley based her story on her crush of former minister for climate change Greg Combet - nice -. Michael Hing went for pure comedy in his a filthy take on the innocent 1998 animated movie Mulan, and was the best on the night. Astrid Lorange went for a more literary angle with her Carl Sagan story based on Marcel Duchamp's Infrathin - nice -. Always good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
02.10.13 : Susie Youssef - Sketchual Chocolate : Factory Theatre
Sketch is a tough area of comedy these days, but Susie always brings the goods. It's a good show, and one to see, so ignore my score because it's due to me having seen most of them before. Good with high laugh punch-lines. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.5
02.10.13 : Short & Sharp - New Comics Showcase : Factory Theatre
I only knew the MC Arnie Pie, all the rest were younger comics except for one. 1 was very good, 1 was bad, and all the rest were quite alright. Not a bad show at all. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
30.09.13 : Runner Runner.- movie
Crime | Drama | Thriller : When poor college student goes bust on an online poker game he arranges a face-to-face with the sly offshore entrepreneur he thinks cheated him. The subject matter is not my cup of tea, and is actually a pet peeve, but the movie and story is interesting enough to be ok. It's nothing outstanding, but it's was alright. 3.5
29.09.13 : Grown Ups 2 - movie
Comedy : No real story to this one. This was one seriously unfunny move, and I'm a Sandler fan. I don't mind stupid, but with no laughs it's just not worth it. 1
28.09.13 : Comedy Confessional : Factory Theatre
I was pretty trashed last night, and was going to skip this one, but a freebie came my way, and that made me 'harden'd the f*ck up' and go. This show was even better than last night. Again there was the quick change variety of comics and stories, and with Dan Ilic hosting, this again was the best show on the night. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
28.09.13 : Ray Badran - Just Like Mum Used To Make 'Em : Factory Theatre
I went because Ray is always good value, but when it started I realised that I had seen this show before - it was basically his usual routine -. He did some ad-lib audience work with a German group, which was fun, and even though this was a repeat, it was still good. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
28.09.13 : Emma Zammit - Good Grief : Factory Theatre
I've literally been turning up and picking names off the board, and tonight I recognised Emma. I had seen her before, and knew what to expect, but what I didn't expect was the price, because this is the most expensive show at the festival - should've done some research -. The show is themed around the death of her father, and you would think it would be a downer, but it was mainly laughs with a few poignant moments. Probably not worth the $26 entry for me, but most of the crowd were laughing loudly throughout. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
27.09.13 : Comedy Confessional : Factory Theatre
There was about 7 comics telling embarrassing stories - good for short attention spans -, and with so much happening at short intervals, there isn't any time that you aren't being entertained. This was the only show left after Wil finished, and even though I was pretty trashed after working all day I made the trek, and it ended up the highlight of the night. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
27.09.13 : Wil Anderson - Goodwil : Enmore Theatre
I knew there would come a time when Wil slowed down, and I knew when he did he would turn from a good comic to and everyday comic, which is what we experienced tonight. The thing that sets Wil's apart from the rest is his hyper "comedy-on-speed" delivery - because if the material isn't good the added energy makes it good -, and when that's gone, he becomes just another comic in the crowd. I can see why his osteoarthritis may slow down his physical pacing of the stage - the pacing adds more energy to the performance -, but even the rate of words delivered was slowed down - Wil usually gives you double the show in words alone -. This is the first time I didn't find him good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
26.09.13 : Rhys Nicholson - On Trial 2 : Factory Theatre
This again was another fairly raw trial show, so wasn't ideal for me, and it even had some material from the last show, so it wasn't all new, and it was those points that made this show only ok overall. I think the biggest let down for me was that both Rhys and Hing had such killer previous shows, and it was the step down that made these shows seem pretty average. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
26.09.13 : Michael Hing - An As Yet Untitled And Unfinished Comedy Show : Factory Theatre
The show is basically a real life love story - that means it doesn't end well -, and is about Michael's pursuit of the girl of his dreams. It's quickly becoming evident that most of the stand-ups are trialling material, rather than turning up with solid shows. Two years ago, after seeing a spate of trail shows, I deemed that most aren't at high enough level to be enjoyable, so I've been skipping them for the finished version. Unfortunately because I didn't read show's blurb, I missed that point, and ended up in a less than desirable situation. Overall there seams to be enough material - even though it's more Fringe-comedy than Comedy-comedy -, it's just that this early incarnation was pretty scattered in delivery, so seemed pretty raw. It ended on a poignant moment - hence the Fringe-comedy categorisation -, and that had the crowd at a loss for applause - hence the ? -, but overall I think they liked it because they laughed more than me. Crowd : ? - Me : 3
20.09.13 : Alex Wasiel's Status Update : Bedlam Bar
I been hanging to see this show, because Alex absolutely killed it in Aggressively Helpful, but that expectation soon turned. To be fair I was pretty tired from working, but as the show went on I got so sleepy that I felt like I was going to pass-out. Now the problem could be me, but one joke at the end woke me up, so now I don't know if it was me, or that she was a bit mild. Most of the crowd liked, so I'm deferring my score in-case it was me. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : na
19.09.13 : Jordan Raskopoulos - Critically Ashamed : Factory Theatre
This is a good show on it's own, even if you don't know the story, know Jordan, or even if the subject has no interest to you at all. This is the story of Jordan's prank to win a Logie, but not the vague story the public got, but the full researched complete behind the scenes goings on. Everyone thought they knew what was going on at the time, even Jordan, but when Jordan researched the details, hidden facts emerged that make the story even more interesting. The story/show is well thought out, constructed, and delivered, and can easily stand on it's own as a good show, but with the added humour, it's great.Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
19.09.13 : Keira Daley Vs The 90's : Seymour Centre
It was always going to be a big ask matching Lady Nerd, because it's that good, but this is quite and admirable effort. The title of this one is also deceptive, because it's Miss K and 3 other musicians assembled into a band. The show basically the trials and tribulations of Lady Nerd, or more, Miss K's life story through the awkward years, ie school days. There were covers of songs from the 90's - which would be a good 1 hour show on their own -, there were very funny songs where Miss K directly imitated other singers - again good enough for a 1 hour show -, there was storytelling akin to the Teen Fiction, where embarrassing situations were revealed - another 1 hour show -, there was a sing-a-long, and there was a miss heard lyrics contest. I couldn't actually hear how clever the lyrics were of the parody songs, because the band over powered them, but generally it was cute, sweet, and a bit of fun. Crowd : 4. - Me : 4
18.09.13 : Pat Magee - Every episode of Doctor Who Live On Stage : Factory Theatre
The title of the show is deceptive, because it's not just Pat, but Pat and 2 other actors and a fake William Hartnell - if you get this in-house gag you will have an idea what the show was like -. The show consists of the cast acting out some of the memorable moments in the 798 episodes, but exaggerating them and adding comments for comedic effect. Other major portions of the series were generalised, when they were similar, and extra behind the scenes references were added in mocking fashion. The show is busy, dynamic, clever, and in fact the only thing that will limit you enjoyment is your memory, how well you know the series, and to some extent, what behind the scenes stories you know. To give you an example as what to expect in enjoyment level, one person was laughing throughout, because he knew the series well and got every reference, but conversely, a young couple didn't laugh at all until the new series references, because they were too young to have seen the original series. Basically, your enjoyment level is exactly proportional to how much you remember. For me it was about 70%, because my memory isn't that good from when I saw whole series about a decade ago, and I didn't know that much about the behind the scenes conflicts that were referred to. I liked it and thought it was good, even if it was a bit scattered in my head. Crowd : 4. - Me : 4
18.09.13 : R.I.P.D.- movie
Action | Comedy | Crime : A recently slain cop joins a team of undead police officers working for the Rest in Peace Department. This is basically a supernatural version of Men in Black, but even more over-the-top. Light entertainment that's fun enough, I liked it. 3.75
17.09.13 : Riddick - movie
Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller : Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against Bounty-hunters and alien predators. This story is supposed to be the continuation of the 2nd movie, but in actually fact is the simple 'stranded on a planet running form dangers' story from the first movie. It's not that busy, so the action is not that fast style of modern Sci-Fi - like Transformer -, but more an older style of Sci-Fi action. Watchable. 2.5
13.09.13 - 16.09.13 : 6 Banger Nats : Warwick Dragway QLD
6 Cylinder engine drag racing. TWF - That Was F*cked -. It was like 4 days at a KKK convention. I can't fathom how people a couple of years older than me are so dumb. I need people with a higher level of intelligence, not these BOC - you can guess the C -
12.09.13 : Alice Fraser - Everyone’s A Winner : Factory Theatre
This is supposed to be a work-in-progress, but that's a ruse because it's very busy and polished. This show is good, but not LOL good, but more interesting good. It's like an over analysed thought bubble of dialogue delivered at break neck speed - she talks very fast -. You need to be really sharp to catch all of it, so coffee is mandatory, and because I was tired it would be worth seeing again so as to absorb all of it -. It's like court transcripts of her experience working at a law firm, but intermingled with what she was thinking about the proceedings. A type of show I have never seen before, super interesting. Interesting 4, laugh amount 3.75 Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
12.09.13 : Heath Franklin - May I borrow a Crisis : Factory Theatre
I'm kind-of sick of Chopper, because Heath's character has changed from the exaggerated Chopper character to Heath Franklin venting at society, so I was interested in what's next. This show is mainly Heath trying different types of comedy, with an ad-lib impro section at the end. This show is a work-in-progress, so it's a bit sparse, and there was only 5 people in the audience, which doesn't help, and out of the whole show I only laughed at half it, yet I still liked it. My score only reflects laugh value. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
This is practically an Enmore Comedy Club showcase - some were actually from last Tuesday's show - with some younger comics added for support. Everyone was great, and with Ian Bagg controlling the insults this time, he blew the audience away. Very Funny.Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
11.09.13 : Pat & Carlo's Incredibly Useful Adventures Through Time : Factory Theatre
Pat and the rest of the cast are more than capable of doing this show by themselves, but without Carlo the last show did lose it's mojo. To get around the problem, because Carlo is still chasing Euro tail, we had the disembodied head of The Marquess of Anglesey, Lord Carlo de Beaudesert, delivered via Skype. This method had it's problems - Carlo's head need a higher chair and a mic -, but it did work, because this show went back to it's usually good form. Tonight Pat & Carlo went to Egypt to look for the French Queen Jewel, and her jewels. Back to form, good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
10.09.13 : Enmore Comedy Club - Ian Bagg(CAN) : Enmore Theatre
I'm only seeing the O/S comics lately, because I'm less familiar with their material, and tonight was Ian Bagg. None of his routine was familiar, he's probably saving that for his individual shows latter this week, and instead went with a totally improvised ad-lib attack of the audience. Even though he went too far and made one woman walk out, it was still very funny. Everyone was fine, with Gen Fricker and Luke Heggie the best of the supports. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
10.09.13 : White House Down - movie
Action | Drama | Thriller : While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a Capitol policeman springs into action. Typical Hollywood action film, in that it's not super intelligent, eg cars flipping on a flat tennis court -. This ain't no Die Hard. Watchable but a bit annoying. 2.5
07.09.13: Led Zeppelin Show : South Hurstville
It was fine. 3
04.09.13 : Live Comedy : Oatley Hotel
Peter Berner (The Einstein Factor, The Celebrity Apprentice, BackBerner), Michelle Betts, MC Jonas Holt
I quickly raced across town after P52's show got canned, and only missed some of Jonas's first set. Because I hadn't see Jonas for a while, and he had new material, he was rather good. Michelle and Peter were fine with Peter doing and extra long set. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
04.09.13 : P52: Literally The Most Fun Improv In The Form Of CrestFallen and Trios! : Hermann's Bar - impro
Unfortunately it got cancelled.
30.08.13 : Red 2 - movie
Action | Comedy | Crime : Retired C.I.A. agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. Hard-ass, comedy, action film. It has try hard comedy, so a lot of jokes fall flat, and the technical details are very simplistic, so they feel a bit lame, but on the whole it's not that annoying, and fun enough . Better than Die Hard 5 - A Good Day to Die Hard. 3.5
29.08.13 : Theatresports Quarter Life Crisis 25th birthday : Manning Bar - impro
I could hear the show this time, and that made it a lot better. Usually Theartresports shows start slowly as the players get into the swing of things, hence the simple 1 minute games, but oddly enough this show started strong. I was thinking of giving it a 4.25 early on, but as the show went on it didn't really get any more technical - like you would expect -, so the rest of it tapered to solid. There were Pros, but they were only captains for the younger teams, so that kind-of accounted for the skill level of the players on the night. Overall it was good enough, and I heard some good comments from the patrons as I was leaving, so overall no one was disappointed. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
28.08.13 : P52: Brand New Debut of an Impro Format & Free To A Good Home Live! : Hermann's Bar - impro
Crestfallen : This new format starts with the construction of a family crest from suggestions from the audience, and based on that the story is told of the family's history through time. If Pat Magee is involved in an Impro format it's usually a good one, and that's because most of them use relatable known characters, ie, pirates, pompous aristocrats, etc, and then it's just up to the players to see how far they can take then - it's easier to go psycho when you're not playing yourself -.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
27.08.13 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
I only bought tickets because I wanted to see Dom Irrera, but because he did show I ended up with repeats. Ray Badran was the best, with the others being fine. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
27.08.13 : Kick-Ass 2 - movie
Action | Crime : The costumed high-school hero Kick-Ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows. This probably caters more toward the young viewer because the lack of a hook, like an actual superpower, makes this feel like ordinary people running around doing nothing extraordinary at all. No magic for me what-so-ever, and more like a "nothing" movie that is watchable. 2
23.08.13 : We're the Millers - movie
Comedy | Crime : A veteran pot dealer creates a fake family as part of his plan to move a huge shipment of weed into the U.S. from Mexico. Not as funny as Horrible Bosses(2011), Hall Pass(2011), etc, but funny enough to be fun. 3.75
22.08.13 : The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones - movie
Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy : When her mother disappears, Clary Fray learns that she descends from a line of warriors who protect our world from demons. She joins forces with others like her and heads into a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld.. It's a very clichéd, predictable, goth, demon hunter/quest movie. It's a time filler with nothing new. 2
18.08.13 - 21.08.13 : Sking : Snowy Mountains
19.08.13 : Therdbo : Testing conditions, but I've seen worse. It was windy, but at least it wasn't blowing you backwards up the mountain. It was 1ºC, but the cold is never a problem unless you ski too slow or stop. It had heaps of powder that catches your edges unexpectedly, but you can stay on the groomed runs if you don't have experience. The only real problem was visibility, because it keep snowing harder as the day went on making it hard to see terrain details - I ploughed straight into a 1 metre high snow bank that threw me over the handle bars -. The Thredbo app said we did 18 runs, covered 38km, reached an elevation of 2053m, and that one of our party hit 50.5km/h max with the other hitting 96km/h.
20.08.13 : Perisher : Better conditions today, and with the shorter runs it gave my unfit legs more time to recover between runs. The Perisher app was flaky, with one not working at all and the other failing at lunch time, but at least we saw a pretty picture of half a days runs superimposed on the ski map.
17.08.13 : 2013 NSW Championship Series Round 6 : Sydney Dragway
Making headway sorting out all the fuel and ignition problems for next month, when the gearbox converter decides to sh!t itself.
16.08.13 : The World's End - movie
Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi : Five friends reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier. The problem with these British horror comedy series of films is that they are crap because they are very unfunny. This one is no exception, because the juvenile adult character living in the past is boring, and all the jokes in this film are just bad puns. The only good point is the special effect fight scenes, but even that isn't enough to save this film. Boring 1.5
15.08.13 : Tractor Monkeys - Ep6 TV recording : ABC studio Ultimo
Denise Scott (Winners and Losers), Rob Carlton (Paper Giants), Rosie Beaton (triple j) and Sammy J (Wednesday Night Fever). Just when you have decided to quit going to these recording because they are repetitive and un-funny, a funny one comes alone and makes it all worth while. Good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
15.08.13 : Elysium - movie
Action | Drama | Sci-Fi : In 2154 the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. District 9 had a fairly simple story, but the movie became a cult classic because it was a very unusual unique film. Elysium is a very conventional shoot-em-up action film that just happens to be set in the future, and because there is nothing new it will probably fade pretty quickly. OK, but it had nothing that I couldn't predict, and it's the lack of surprise that made it a bit average. 3.5
14.08.13 : P52: The Improv Den #15 (MotherFather Bear) : Hermann's Bar - impro
Even thought the first half wasn't the chaotic clever that we usually get here, but was more random disjointed, it was still ok.
Team 1 - A guy is left unloved when his friend won't raspberry kiss his tum-tum.
Team 2 - A awkward man goes to cool school to become cool.
Team 3 - Some guys steel a car
Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
MotherFather Bear
It wasn't as wacky as most Bear Pack shows, but it was good enough.
The King is jealous of the Mime Queen, because she can mime better stuff than he actually has, and that under minds his power
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
14.08.13 : The psychology of gambling: Skill, luck, and myth : University of Sydney
I actually knew most of the stuff that was covered, but it was still interesting all the same. The way gambling works is that the house always take a mandatory cut of every beat disguised in the odds they give you. In pokie machines they say there is a 85-91% return of all money bet, but the few random wins may indicate you have won when in fact over time you will always have less than you started, and that's a loss. If you want to put the amount of money made by gambling into perspective just look at the Sands SkyPark - Marina Bay Sands Singapore. It's the size of an aircraft carrier and cost 6 billion dollars, yet it only took 18 months to pay it off.. Australia spends around $19 billion each year on gambling, that's $1 billion per million people. 3.75
13.08.13 : Enmore Comedy Club Featuring Paul Ogata (USA) : Enmore Theatre
Another good show, considering that I have seen a lot of the comics before. Paul Ogata(USA) is a traditional comic with joke jokes, and that is why myself and the crowd liked him a lot. Tony Woods turned up again and did a compressed set, and that made him better because he got to the actual jokes quickly, instead of his slow delivery wafting street talk that I sometimes have trouble following. Overall Amanda Gray was the funniest, Paul was second, and everyone else was about equal. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
13.08.13 : Now You See Me - movie
Crime | Thriller : An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money. No realistic believable drama, mystery, or intrigue, just unrealistic Hollywood fiction. It's so unbelievable that you never get attached to the movie, and that ultimately makes it a nothing movie - remove brain before watching -. 2
08.08.13 : Tractor Monkeys - Ep5 TV recording : ABC studio Ultimo
Max Walker, Claire Hooper(Good News Week), Ed Kavalee(Thank God You're Here) and Tom Ballard(triple j). I'm old, but even Max's stories were too old for me because it felt like they slowed things down somewhat. In fact it was only Ed that was really funny, but even that tapered in the second half. I think I'm seeing too many of these, because my enthusiasm is slowly fading, and that's always going to be a constant problem for me. Not a great one, but it was acceptable. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
08.08.13 : Pain & Gain - movie
Comedy | Crime | Drama : Moronic incompetent criminals try a kidnapping scheme. This uses the surprise of random happenings and acts to get laughs, like Burn After Reading(08) and the lesser Seven Psychopaths(12), but because this based on a real life true happenings it's not as way out as them, and is ultimately predictable and dull. The audience seamed to like it more, but I didn't. 2
06.08.13 : Enmore Comedy Club Featuring Tony Woods (USA) : Enmore Theatre
It's actually quite a nice room. I find the Factory makes you feel removed, and the Comedy Store it just corporatised BS, but this one is cosy and relaxing. At $11 this show was never intended to be a big CS showcase, but on the whole it was pretty close, just kept shorter to reflect the price. The only mistake they made was not thinking big enough, because 80 seats isn't big enough for big names like Tony Woods. Because this is a smaller room than Tony is used to he didn't take it as seriously, so he kept his relaxed stereotype delivery all the way throughout the routine - he usually does the relaxed act for the first half and then steps it up to finish on a high -. This relaxed delivery spaces the laughs somewhat, so it feels sparse and less intense, but on the whole Tony is still always good. Every time Tony comes here it's a new routine, and this was was pretty similar to the last two, but nothing can compare to the first time he came to Australia because it was packed with super funny material. I laughed more in the first half but overall it was pretty good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
03.08.13 : ANDRA Test n Tune : Sydney Dragway
Stopped in to see a friend testing his car
02.08.13 Comedy On Tap : Tap Gallery
It was about 50/50 Les Girls/Vaudeville/Burlesque and stand-up comics. The reason I went was because it had the big names of Sally Kimpton and Bev Killick, but oddly enough it was the young unknowns that I found the funniest. Nearly all the other performers were men in drag, with one hosting and doing a mock play that had a poor chap from the audience naked down to his athletic support - unfortunate choice of under garment tonight -, one was Joylene Thornbird Hairmouth(Jimmy and the Boys 1976) doing a parody song, there was a pair of lady boys/men that mimed and acted out a slap stick fight to the sound track of Mame Bosom Buddies with Lucille Ball & Bea Arthur, and one actual woman fire twirler/dancer that gave us a sunburn she was so close. Not super, but fine all the same. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
01.08.13 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Super Secret Show : Surry Hills Library
Now I know why there was no blurb and why it was labelled a Secret Show, because they couldn't explain what was going to happen even if they tried. You could call it 'The wacky world of Nick Coyle', or more appropriately 'Nick Coyle goes clinically insane for 1 hour'. Evidentially it's called 'Double Tribute', and it starts as a tribute to his dead girlfriend Jenny - the talking can of coke -, and then ends with a gay New Zealand Knight of the Round Table - makes perfect sense -. Wacky and quite alright. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
01.08.13 : The Way Way Back - movie
Comedy | Drama : Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park. It goes for the sad/lovable empathy angle with the shy awkward downtrodden lead, but unfortunately the movie never gets sad/lovable enough to be good. I didn't mind it at all, but it's not special like other movies in this category. 3.25
31.07.13 : P52: 2nd Annual Extreme Theatresports Laser Bear Motocross Edition : Hermanns' Bar - impro
It was a bit too shambley for old people like me, but the packed crowd of young people liked the randomness. This is supposed to be impro mashed with something like a Japanese Game Show, but in the first half wasn't much impro because it was nearly all JGS. The second half had real impro, but because the players were just trying to survive the ordeal there wasn't much high end skill stuff. The younger audience didn't have a problem with it, nor did I really, it's just that seeing the last years show took most of the surprises out for me.
There was crazy antics like, reverse Lights Out Radio Play, Amish Rake Fight, Whoever's Holding The Cup At The End Drinks The Mystery Within (baked beans and milk), I Love You 10 sec kiss, Line At A Time marshmallow eat, Puppets with real strings, Nut Flick, Expert Double Figures sex expert, Entrances and Exits off stage bashing, reverse Murder in the Absolute Dark mouse trap walking, racist stereotype Roller-coaster, Silly String To Talk, Touch to Talk honey hands, Head In A Bucket [Of Milk] terrorist interrogation. There was laughs, even for me. Crowd : 4. - Me : 3.5
25.07.13 : Tractor Monkeys - Ep3 TV recording : ABC studio Ultimo
Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Mark Trevorrow (aka Bob Downe), Hannah Gadsby (Adam Hills Tonight) and James Kerley (Balls of Steel). Not as funny as last week, but it was still fine. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
25.07.13 : The Wolverine - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : Summoned to Japan by an old acquaintance, Wolverine becomes embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront his own demons. There is a lot of dialogue to establish the story, so the majority of it doesn't travel that fast - it's like Batman Returns but without as much effective drama -, but it's still ok. Stay for the credits if you want to see the start of the next X-Men. 3.75
24.07.13 : Comedy at the Oatley Hotel : Oatley Hotel
Greg Fleet (Good News Week, Full Frontal, Rove, Underbelly Squizzy) , Damian Smith, MC Ben Darsow
Greg had a totally new routine, and Ben had new stuff too, so all this new material made it ok for me. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
19.07.13 : This Is the End - movie
Comedy | Fantasy : The apocalypse crashes James Franco's party. It's one of batsh!t crazy ones that goes nowhere, and is just a a bunch of things that happened all in a row - like long form impro where it can go anywhere -. I can see why older people wouldn't like it, because of the randomness and lack of anything substantial, but I didn't mind it at all because myself and the audience were chuckling in places. Nothing serious, but it's ok to pass the time 2.75
18.07.13 : Tractor Monkeys - Ep2 TV recording : ABC studio Ultimo
Matt Okine, Ella Hooper, Kate Langbroek, Glenn Robbins. Where as last week there was amusing banter - which was fine -, this week it was heaps of funny stories that made the actual recording more like a comedy show - just like the good GNW recordings -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
17.07.13 : P52: The Improv Den #14 (Last Bear Pack Performance for 2013) : Hermann's Bar - impro
It was a super psycho surreal scattered show, because nobody knew what was going on, not even the cast. And even though there wasn't any continuous stories, it didn't detract one bit, because it was all super funny. I can't describe what happened with the 1st half teams challenge, because it was all random unrelated scenes, but from what I saw I found that team 1 had me choke-laughing, 2 was very funny, and 3 was just funny. The crowd on the other hand went with substance, and went other way by voting for team 3.
Carlo is off chasing another girl in Poland, so this will be the last BP show this year. This time the Bear Pack didn't go to as many wacky places, but they did go so far in one thread that I was choke-laughing.
Super funny night. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
13.07.13 : The Bear Pack - Hibernation Tour : Factory Theatre
A mysterious Beauty Parlour makes women beautiful, but then whisks the away to another time period. The disappearances attract attention, but the down-trodden, long-serving, man-servant deals with it by killing everyone. Bear Pack shows seem to fall into 3 categories. The best ones chop and change between scenes, but it's all very accurately linked so that it becomes a very convoluted and complex single story - basically all the links between scenes are justified -. Tonight we didn't get best category, but the more common next level down that has some scenes that weren't entirely justified, which made them feel separate and tacked on. It's only a minor point because it only happen once or twice, so it didn't really detract that much - basically I'm the only one that's going to notice -. Crowd 4.5, Me 4
12.07.13 : Pacific Rim - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : Monstrous sea creatures encroach on mankind. This is like Godzilla mashed with Transformers, and that means that it's basically a moronic film masked by action. This takes moronic to a new level, because the super moronic clichéd dialogue, and the super dumb clichéd script, and the super bad clichéd acting, made it a huge turn-off for me. The younger audience member clapped at the end, but for me the large moronic talking section between the two action sequences at the start and finish, made me tune out early on. Rubbish, and a bit hard to watch. 1.5
11.07.13 : Tractor Monkeys - Ep1 TV recording : ABC studio Ultimo
Shane Jacobson, Adam Richard, Mel Buttle, Noeline Brown. A 3 hour recording is a long time for a ½ hour show - they did 2 episodes in one recording last season -, so maybe it will be switching to a 1 hour show for season 2 . Basically it's 3 hours of comedians mucking around cracking jokes non stop, so much so that the actual show gets in the way of their comedic banter. And even though it's not all super sonic funny all the time, it is humorous enough. It wasn't riveting for some of the younger audience members - they have lower levels of tolerance -, but for me I don't mind it at all. It actually feels like a bunch of mates in the lounge room cracking gags and trying to make each other laugh for 3 hours. You do feel the redos at the end, and wish you could skip them, but it was only an extra ¼ of an hour to endure. 3.5
11.07.13 : The Heat - movie
Action | Comedy | Crime : An uptight FBI Special Agent is paired with a foul-mouthed Boston cop to take down a ruthless drug lord. I don't mind mild comedies, so long as they are cute, but the contrived predictable comedy was annoying, and the wise-cracking character got annoying very early on. I didn't like it, but the rest of the audience was chuckling throughout. Crowd 3.75, Me 2
05.07.13 : The Lone Ranger - movie
Western | Comedy | Action : The story of the Lone Ranger. That was a mad bit of fun. It's a Wild West version of Pirates of the Caribbean. It has the comedy and the huge wacky over-the-top action sequences, but it also has a couple of violent serious scenes to give some gravitas to the Lone Ranger character. Johnny Depp was brilliant as Tonto, and stole the show. Top of my list so far. 4.5
04.07.13 : LNL - Teen Diary Readings : Surry Hills Library
I wouldn't have thought that this was my shtick, but being free makes it very attractive. My notions were soon turned on it's head, because not only were the diary readers brilliant, but the crowd's reactions to the situations compounded the fun. Right from the start you knew it was going to be embarrassing. The diary readers knew it was going to be embarrassing so they delivered it in a What-was-I-thinking fashion, and that made it very effective for comedy. The crowd also knew it was embarrassing, because we've all been in those situations, so they added much empathy in oh's, ooh's, and laughs, and that just amplified the funnies. One of the best shows I have seen in quite a while. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.5
04.07.13 : Man of Tai Chi - movie
Action | Drama : A young martial artist's unparalleled Tai Chi skills land him in a highly lucrative underworld fight club. This is supposed to be a Hollywood and Asian conglomerate, but it's more like an Asian film with slight Hollywood influence from the director, and villain star, Keanu Reeves. I only go to Asian cinema for the crazy Asian fighting action scenes, and even those these weren't super sonic, they were good enough - if they fought faster it would have been more impressive -. I can't say this was the best Asian action film I have ever seen, but neither was it bad, and it fact it was quite entertaining, just not spectacular. I thought it was quite an ok film. 3.5
02.07.13 : Wednesday Night Fever - Ep1 : ABC studios Ultimo
It's impossible to tell if a show will be any good from the recording - I thought Tractor Monkeys wasn't going to work, yet I loved it when it got to TV -, but from what I saw, I don't think the recordings are going to suit me. There was a house band in the form of Dave Eastgate and his rock band - Dave was the only thing I found funny all the night -, there was a couple of sketches, there was a song, there was a mock interview, and it was all hosted by Sammy J. Everything in the show was political satire based, and because of recent events it was basically all about the Labour Party leadership - political satire is not my scene -. Even though this wasn't the same as the unpopular Good News Week sketch series, the audience still reacted about the same, in that they were enthusiastic to be there, but didn't react to much because there wasn't much to laugh at. The audience seemed happy. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 2
02.07.13 : Badges of Fury - movie
Comedy | Action | Crime : Bumbling cops must find a serial killer. I thought this was going to be a semi dramatic police story, but in fact it is a comedy. Asian cinema does a simplistic form of comedy, but because they add nutty and kooky, the simplistic gets turned into fun. Mildly amusing but fun. 3.25
28.06.13 : Judith Lucy & Denise Scott - The Spiral : Enmore Theatre
They are both very good on their own. so it was a no-brainer that this would be good. The premise of this show is that they are retiring from standup, and becoming writers - hence all the mentions of their books -. There was brilliant "mucking-around" ad-lib with the audience - Adam Hills needs to take some lessons here -. There was a funny video, some mad dancing, a book reading sampler, and a Q&A with the audience. But the major part of the show was the two of them telling very funny gags and stories in alternating fashion. Even though I knew some of Scotty's stuff, I still loved it. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
27.06.13 : Man of Steel - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : It's Superman, what else do you need to know. The thought of another done-to-death Superman movie seemed moronic to me, but this version is so visually huge, that it's actually ok to watch. The story is like all the Superman movies mashed together, but changed so that it's not the same. A massive, over-the-top, super sensationalised, serious version with CGI on steroids. Heaps to see visually, but not super intelligent all the time - think Fantasy/Transformers -. 4
26.06.13 : The Old Abandoned Podcast AND The Human Jukebox : Hermann's Bar
There were a few things missing tonight. Half the audience was missing - the crowd was still pretty good for their size but it was still one of those quieter nights -. And Carlo was missing - this took the soul and most of the humour out of Pat and Carlo's Adventures Through Time -. There was nothing really wrong with The Human Jukebox Benny Davis, it's just that it didn't pop like AoA. The major gags were based on the technical aspects of songs, but unfortunately because of my untrained ear I didn't get the subtleties of the song, so it all ended up sounding all like bunch of song medleys. It probably needs something the break up the show, like games from Spic's and Spec's where people have to guess songs - make people put up their hand up when they get it, so that the song can continue until most of the audience get it - . Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
25.06.13 : The Dance of the Planets & The Music of the Stars : Sydney Uni
It must sound nuts to pass off a science lecture as entertainment, but I knew it would be an over view rather than a technical sciencey thing, so wouldn't go that deep that it would be dull. Thankfully Prof Tim Bedding spoke so nicely, and delivered such a well constructed talk, that it did become a great bit of entertainment. The first half was The Dance of the Planets, where he explained that the Kepler space telescope measures the dimming of stars as planets orbit around them, but only if the orbital plane is flat to us so that the planets pass between us and the star. Also he told us what information has been analysed from Kepler so far. Information like, they have found a lot of gas giants orbiting very fast and very close to their Sun's - imagine Jupiter twice the size and orbiting where Venus is and going around the Sun every 4 days -. One sun had 6 big plants all orbiting within the distance of the orbit of our second planet Venus. Also the twin suns of Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine is very common in the universe. The first half explained that the amount of dimming will tell you the size of the planet, but only relative to it's sun - it won't tell you if it's a big planet orbiting a big sun, or a small planet orbiting a small sun -. So the second half The Music of the Stars, measures the frequency of the star's oscillations, due to earth quakes on it, so as to give you it's size - big stars oscillate slowly like large deep musical instruments, and small stars oscillate fast like the higher pitch instruments -. This in turn gives you the size of the star, and hence the size of the planet. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
24.06.13 : Story Club - Why Don't You Make Me? : Raval
By their very nature, good stories seem to stick in your head and are never as good the second time around. But these stories were. I've been to a few different story telling nights, but Story Club always stands out from the rest because, the writing is more creative, and the delivery is emphasised so it's more like a performance. The second time around felt like the story tellers had time to hone the delivery for maximum effect - like comics do - because it seemed better reading that the first time. The change of venue that has put this show into the real world and made it susceptible to a older, stilted, non reacting, inner city Sydney crowd - a P52 Uni crowd react faster and louder than the real world -, but because the stories were so good it even had them reacting.
Ben Jenkins - went with the toxoplasma gondii parasite that made his friend not fear mortal danger.
Eddie Sharp (Erotic Fan Fiction, Teen Diary Readings) - went with his cow killing art project.
Kirsten Drysdale (Hungry Beast, The Checkout) - did her real life experience of caring for a unpredictable dementia patient in South Africa.
Patrick Magee (Project 52, novelist, Madame Tussaud's) - Pat started in the style of his famous maniacal grand father stories, but switched to the real life experience of being The Batman.
Peter Fitzsimons (author, journalist & bandanna wearer) - being a rugby player, you would think that Peter wouldn't be able to write a creative story. But what most people don't realise is that there rugby clubs in universities, so players are usually well educated, and that explained why Peter's story of biffo was so colourful and entertaining.
Zoe Norton Lodge (The Hamster Wheel, The Checkout) - did the story of band practice in Bathurst for the Olympics. But delivered it so precisely and calculating that it cracked the hardest members in the audience and brought the house down.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
22.06.13 : Michael Hing - Occupy White People : Factory Theatre
The title gave me some trepidation about going to another race based comedy by the Hingster - because Orientalism wasn't that good -, but thankfully it wasn't a rhetoric based activism show at all, and in fact it only had a small amount of race based material that was done like a real comedy, ie, funny. I find that some comics look for substance in their lives and switch from comic to activist, but because they started a comic, they still think they are a comic - basically they forget that the only job description of a comic is to make people laugh -. None of this show was preachy at all, and in fact it was all good solid comedy/comedy - basically all laughs -. The gist of the show, as was mentioned by Michael, is all about mistakes that he has made, so was basically a long list of embarrassing stories where something stupid happened to him. Even though I knew most of the stories I still liked this show a lot, because it was laughs all the way. The only criticism was one small section with the puppets where I started wondering if the audience thought this section was going on too long - if I have time to think, it probably was -, but with a run time of 90 minutes it wouldn't be hard to tighten that up. Oddly, this time I liked the show a lot but the audience didn't applaud up to the level I thought they should have. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 4.25
22.06.13 : Steen Raskopoulos, SpringSTEEN Live In Concert : Factory Theatre - sketch
This year's festival had a weird schedule, so I had to miss this show, but these encore performances and some spare time allowed me to catch up. Objectively, this wasn't as LOL funny as Nice Kicks, but it did have enough going on to keep you entertained in a different way. The biggest hook with this one is the audience participation, be it that it's forced upon them, and it's this unexpected and unpredictable element that makes it amusing. On the laugh front you would ideally want sketches to be funny all the way through, but in fact most modern sketches have a long set-up lull with a short but big gag right at the end. The way they got around it in the old days was to make the sketches short, so the gags are like a one-liners, and then stack them tightly together so that they are delivered rapid fire. Tonight most of the sketches were the big lull with short gag at the end, so you weren't laughing all the time, 3 were the laugh all the way through gags, 1 was a repeat from Nice Kicks, and 1 I predicted the gag. I'm always going to be harder to please, because I'm desensitised by years of comedy, so it's no surprise that tonight's crowd went the other way and liked it a lot - it's why I give 2 scores -. I could tell the audience liked it by the loud applause at the end, and when I overhearing a girl say that it ended all too soon - time flying indicates that they liked it a lot -. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
20.06.13 : A Rational Fear Live!!! Episode 3 : Laugh Garage
The comedy wasn't that hot, but the interview with Imogen Kelly really stood out. Imogen Kelly is the young lady that has decided to have a double mastectomy, because her family line has such a high predisposition for breast cancer - 2 died in their 40's -, and when you put a face to the name you're reading about, it makes things very real. There has been a lot of talk for and against, but for me there is only reason you would do something that radical, and she is buried next to my father - my friend's cousin Vanessa died from breast cancer at only 31 years of age -.
These show vary based on the strength of the gags, and tonight it wasn't that strong. It's hard coming up with new gags the work in only one week - the FBi series had one month breaks - and overall the show was decent enough, it's just that it didn't have the super laughs that the early shows had. I remember the worst show of the FBi series still had decent monologues by the cast, it's just the linking jokes between them that were unfunny, but tonight the linking jokes and some of the monologues weren't that good - you could hear the forced applause waning as the crowd went from optimistically expecting, to unfulfilled by the end of the night -. Lewis Hobba covered the thief of Clive Palmer's laptop, and was the only one that was truly funny. Heath Franklin covered his outrage at the supposedly racist bumper sticker "Love it, or leave". This statement can have many interpretations, because I see this as people that have agreed to a countries lifestyle and rules, and then disrespecting it's people by complaining about that country - like those people that say our way of life is wrong and that Australia should be run by Sharia rule -. What many people don't realise is that the Government has absolutely no money what-so-ever, and that all repatriation costs come directly out of your pocket in the form of taxes. So I would really appreciate people not sh!ting in my pocket while I'm pulling out dollars to give you, it's called common courtesy - rant over -. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
20.06.13 : World War Z - movie
Action | Drama | Horror : United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic. I don't research films because I want to be surprised when I see them - now I know what the "Z" is for -. Unfortunately the surprise with this one was that it isn't a serious disaster move, but instead a dumb, big budget, Hollywood, CGI, horror movie. Leave your brain at the door, because like most horror, it's not very intelligent. 2.5
19.06.13 : P52: The Improv Den #13 : Hermann's Bar - impro
The first half wasn't as good as it usually is, and it's not that there wasn't laughs, it's just that it didn't have the big ones that I like.
Team 1 - Two night club owners have run out of dance moves and go to another club to get some more. They stuck to one story throughout, but the scene switches had tenuous links making the story slightly clunky - you don't notice it if there are big laughs -. 3
Team 2 - Did a fantasy story where a Father/Brother has to search for the Princess. This was a very similar configuration to team one, single story with illogical switches, but because this one had laughs no one noticed. The major humour was Michael Hing questioning aspects of the story, which gets laughs because it makes the audience think, and a couple of fun characters from the others. 3.75
Team 3 - A wife pepper sprays her husbands face instead of a burglar's, and then is so ditzy that she can't get him to the hospital. It had 2 brilliant characters, one was a great Gilbert Gottfried impression and one was a wonderful ditzy housewife from the Bronx, it's just that the scene didn't really go anywhere, literally or figurative - it was all in one room -. 3
The Bear Pack - Incompetent and brutal Spanish Capitan Javier Syphilitico gets everyone killed, except for his First mate, in a ship wreck. The First mate takes over and becomes the Captain but accidentally kills his best friend, who was presumed dead in the sinking of the ship. These guys are pretty consistent for laughs, expect for the slight dip at the last show, so it was business as usual. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
18.06.13 : FBCNLT Improv Tuesdays - TRIPLE TRIPLES & TIME TRAVEL (Part Trois) : Roxbury Hotel - impro
They've changed FBCNLT from 2 players per team to 3 - something which I thought it needed right from the start -, but unfortunately it was from the lower skill level of players - FBCNLT is a hard format, so it needs plenty of skilled players for it to be good -. I've done years of watching the lower level players, thereby killing any enthusiasm for it, so I tuned out very early on because of the lack of dynamics - only the skilful Pro Lisa Ricketts woke me up with her many funny characters -. On the other hand the crowd were still enthusiastic, so they didn't mind at all. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 2
The second half was Pat and Carlo's Incredibly Useful Adventures through Time - the only reason I went -, and again they smoked it. The format is a type of distorted history that is made coherent by the use of a Time Machine, ie, Cleopatra in Medieval England sort of thing. Pat knows enough about history to be dangerous, and Carlo has forgotten enough about history to be even more dangerous, and together they form a gargantuan, historical, blithering machine. When Carlo is on a roll he can say anything, like they were in ancient Egypt talking to Cleopatra, and Carlo harmlessly said that he was "eating sardines and tomatoes". This had Pat quickly analysing what he said and realising that tomatoes wouldn't arrive in Europe for another 1500 years, so he did the clever "thinking" gag, and corrected him. This gag works because it makes the audience think - it's like a "call-back" gag -, because when the audience thinks back and realises that Pat is right, they laugh. This laugh then gets compounded when Carlo has to back peddle and come up with another explanation, so as to make the story sound feasible again. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
15.06.13 : The Led Zeppelin Show : South Hurstville RSL - music
There is no way I could afford the $130 ticket price to see Robert Plant when he was here in March, so it's back to this free tri-yearly event. It was good that there was a big crowd, but for me it's business as usual. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
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