0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
30.12.14 : The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - movie
Adventure | Fantasy : Bilbo and Company are forced to engage in a war against an array of combatants and keep the Lonely Mountain from falling into the hands of a rising darkness. Best movie in the series. Each subsequent movie gets better, simply because the next movie has more stuff happen that the previous one. Because the movies are released so far apart I don't remember what the deal is with the many factions, but that's inconsequential with this one because that action constantly comes at you unabated - basically there's no dead spots -. 3.75
18.12.14 : Rock With Laughter : Star Casino
It was a bit fu*ked. It's the usual "free gig" problem of people having nothing invested in paying attention, because it's free - paying customers want to be there -. The Xmas crowd wouldn't shut up, and they didn't set up seats at the front, which would allowing you to concentrate by hearing what was said. Mick Meredith was the only one loud enough, and with enough energy to smother the noisy crowd, so he was quite good considering the circumstances. Crowd : na - Me : 2
16.12.14 : Ghost Stories : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
The first half was subdued because the story tellers went with mystery, but the second half picked up when it returned to comedy. I knew most of the stories, so there wasn't many surprises, but it was still ok. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
16.12.14 : Horrible Bosses 2 - movie
Comedy : Dale, Kurt and Nick decide to start their own business but things don't go as planned. It was a good enough idea for a sequel, it's just that the execution wasn't as good as it could have been. All gags are set up, but if you don't hide the set up, it becomes predictable. The most obvious one is that two of the characters played Dumb & Dumber, and you could see that they were just trying to out stupid each other. It's ok 3
08.12.14 : Amnesty International Australia Theatresports® Fundraiser : Belvoir St Theatre
Theatresports games are just better from a laugh stand point, and that makes it better for an audience. There's just something about making up gags so quickly on the fly and while under pressure that produces a more intense laugh. It's like it's done so fast it feels super clever, and because the audience knows how clever it is it makes if funnier. I would have banked on the players being out of form, because no one does TS any more, but the pros shifted up a gear to what they were like in the old days and that made it very funny. There was a serious element being a AIA fundraiser, but we're used to Parliamentary TS so it wasn't that bad. After an early tumble Andrew O’Keefe ripped it up with the hosting, and all the veteran players carried on where they left off a decade ago like nothing had happened. Lowest score was a 3 with most of the scores in the 4-5 range. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
04.12.14 : Love Bites : Harold Park Hotel
I remembered ¼ of the way through that I had seen this show before, but since it's a panel show, where the guests are asked questions about love and relationships, every show will be different anyhow. These shows rely on the sharpness of the guests (Tim Ferguson, Veronica Milsom, and Adam Yardley), and tonight they were only moderately sharp, but the sharp hosting of Alice Fraser made up for any short comings even if I knew all the gags. The hosting and the large crowd made the show quite alright. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
03.12.14 : Nerd Nite Sydney : The Attic Lounge - The Arthouse Hotel
Even though none of the talks are subjects that I would actively pursue, I have never been disappointed by any of these shows.
Prof Mike Manefield - Spiritual nourishment for the scientific mind. This was basically about finding similarities between science and god, things like life separated into 3 distinct groups, and the is a father, son and holly ghost. I'm not big on the religious stuff, but most of it was about biology which was good.
Jocelyn Brewer - Internet addiction, does it exist, or do we just lack self control. Even though most of the Internet addiction is assumed to be gaming and gambling, in actual fact more people are addicted to the social media side.
Dr Joel Barratt - Parasitology : The ins and outs. I remember him telling us Nepal story before, where someone got a stomach parasite, but it continued with a quick run down of parasites, like even dinosaurs got parasites.
This is not a great room for people with hearing difficulties, so I missed a bit, but it was fine all the same. Also the crowd was down a bit because of the story weather. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
01.12.14 : Story Club - The Stiff Upper Lip : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Ben Jenkins got caught crying, in the heart felt romantic movie Looking for Alibrandi
Phil Spencer (Artistic Director, Rock Surfers Theatre) started with him getting caught watching the sex fuelled movie Shame while on a long haul flight back to mother England, but ended with him being a good Samaritan in indifferent London when a young girl got separated from her parents.
Rebecca Huntley (Host RN Drive, Author, Poll Knower-Abouter). Public transport is not convenient, but it is cheap, and that's why it attracts so many weirdos. Weird happenings on transport was the basis of Rebecca's many tales of woe.
Lisa Pryor (Writer of Books & Articles Plus Almost MD) told her tales of becoming a medical student, and her first experiences with dissecting cadavers.
Scott Dooley (Comedian Man, Radio Man) started his reputation for not crying when he skinned his knee in the school playground at the age of 5. This continued for decades, until a chance viewing of a heart felt episode of Everybody Loves Raymond
Zoe Norton Lodge told the story of the year that her family decided not to give Xmas presents to family members any more. But unfortunately she stumbled in to another room where she discovered that presents were still being given out, just not for her.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
28.11.14 : The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - movie
Adventure | Drama : Who cares what the story is, it's just another one of those drawn out movie franchises that are just a grab for money. I didn't want to see this but I had to burn up my last discount ticket, or lose it. 2
27.11.14 : Erotic Fan Fiction - Literature edition! : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Eddie Sharp (FBi Radio, Late Night Library) covered the filth and depravity of the Muppets. It came complete with all the character voices, and projected images, of the squelchy mess that was Miss Piggy wearing Kermit as a hat, when she entered his cloaca.
Stuart Daulman (Fancy Boy Variety Show) Film Nior Humpy Dumpty filth had cum everywhere. It was a good cum. This also had character voices, and mood music for effect.
Laura Davis (Community Kitchen) Glenn Wheeler, of NutriBullet fame, used his many vibrating TV appliances as a sex aids in pleasuring his co advertorial host Lisa
Mark Sutton (RN Drive, Story Club) used quotes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick, which he held up a sign to denote that they are actual quotes from the book, in his clever re-made story of unintentional filth.
Lawrence Leung (Lawrence Leungs Choose Your Own Adventure) did an abridged version of his last show, in which he discovered he had erotic fan fiction written about himself, that was just as good as the original. This also had crucial clips from the show.
Zoe Coombs Marr (Dave, ABC’s Dirty Laundry) told the true story of Lot's cum soaked adventure at the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
21.11.14 : Love, Rosie - movie
Comedy | Romance : Rosie and Alex have been best friends since they were 5, so they couldn't possibly be right for one another...or could they? It's a bit weird from a technical standpoint, like why would you use "shaky cam" in a RomCom, but it was still nice. 3.25
13.11.14 : Let's Be Cops - movie
Comedy : Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighbourhood sensations. Silly, but enough laughs to be fun. 3.5
12.11.14 : COMEDY(ish) : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I wasn't that keen - boredom won over agoraphobia -, so when it sold out I couldn't bother waiting around for a chance of getting in on a late ticket.
10.11.14 : That’ll Learn You : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I'm not really a big fan, but I had to burn my last ticket and there was nothing left to see. The first show was clunky, but at least the host keep things moving by filling the dead spaces. This one was still clunky, but the host meandered all night and left quite a lot of dead spots. It wasn't the quick banter of comics on a panel show, but a slow talk with stoppages whenever the audience made a comment. Shows don't have to be great, but as long as things keep moving at a decent pace they feel more than they actually are. The lectures were good, because they were interesting and delivered at a decent pace, and covered living forever by Dr Darren Saunders (Medicine, Garvan Institute), and living elsewhere by Dr Alan Duffy (Astronomer, Swinburne University). Living forever was good because we learnt that all the things that make a cell live forever, give it cancer, and the other way is replacing parts with stem cells, which can give you cancer if it's not perfect - they are just starting to understand how to program stem cells -. Living Elsewhere - Earth 2.0 - was also good and covered how to spot plants, working out how many habitable planets there are - about 4 billion in our galaxy -, and how to get there. The show is decent, but all the slowness and stagnant parts wore me down in the last 15 minutes. These type of crowds are always quite, so I couldn't tell their actual score that well. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.25
06.11.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Teen Diary Readings : Surry Hills Library
This felt like the hastily prepared episode. 2 were good, one was only poetry, which was still ok, but 1 was very scattered compared to it's original construction - it was like the original construction had been forgotten so it was delivered ad-lib, and that made it loose all it's intended comedy because it was so miss directed and disjointed -. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
06.11.14 : Interstellar - movie
Adventure | Sci-Fi | Drama : A wormhole looks like the only saviour of the human race. It's an intelligent science based movie, but with some annoying Hollywood BS. Annoying things they couldn't help, like no one knows what's in a singularity so they made up something to fit in the movie, and things they could have helped, like the lamest Lego robot ever. Most of the annoyances end by half distance, and the others you get used to, so the movie ramps up from a 2.5 to a 4. Also the background sound is louder than the dialogue, so it's hard to hear what they're saying - earplugs help -. Worth seeing. 3.75
If I wrote these stories you would get bored pretty quick. But because the stories are constructed and embellished so well, they are much more than the actual story.
Ben Jenkins - I assumed that Ben was a model student - that hyper exterior conjures the impression of lots of things being done -, but in actual fact, many a corner was cut. His biggest con was getting a degree in a class that he never attended, nor did any work for. He only had to pass a public speaking review of a book to get an acceptable pass mark, but due to chronic fatigue syndrome, of the lazy kind, he didn't even put the effort into reading the book. He figured he would pad the talk by faking being mortally fearful of public speaking, and it worked, but ironically he learnt acting in an institution he was determined to not do any work in. Well constructed and delivered for comedic effect.
Annaliese Constable (Extremely Funny Writer & Performer) - Annaliese is one of those thinking people that's hard to live with, because she always looks to the dark side of things. But it's that that makes her story about her relationship so good, because it's a perspective that is very funny. Very cleverly written for outright pure comedy.
Rob Carlton (Story Club's Favourite Logie Possessor) - Did a sombre story of his travels through Syria. The people give the appearance of being very friendly to tourists, but due to underlying tones you could tell the people are oppressed by the fear being shot if they say the wrong thing.
David Marr (Walkley Award Winning Journalist) - Explained how a pack of cards - he took the theme literally - made him gay. Clever
Hannah Reilly (The Chaser's Media Circus) - Gave here perspective of the Jack and the Beanstalk sketch that Ben had talked about previously on SC. Things aren't that rosy for the new "shit-kicker" assistant on set. Problems like, letting a baby choke on small toys, loosing a Nobel Prise for Physics, and making a chicken fall unconscious because of putting it's comedy bow-tie on too tight. Very funny.
Zoe Norton Lodge - This was a continuation of last months story about shops on her street closing down to ludicrous business ideas. Unlike last months story of looking at the shops from the outside, this one was about the shop she worked in. Zoe has a knack of re-analysing moments from different perspectives that make these stories very funny.
I kind-of miss the boisterous crowds of Hermann's, because these crowds are more conservative in their applause. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
Drama | Romance : Margaret and David was right, it was one big steaming pile of clichéd dross. I could feel my life force ebbing away just watching it so I only lasted 45 minutes before I walked out. 0
30.10.14 : Erotic Fan Fiction - Sci Fi and Fantasy : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Sex can get dull if it's too similar, and so to these stories. Tonight the stories were very varied, and that made up for some of the stories not being killer.
Eddie Sharp - Did his well known Kurt Vonnegut/Anna Nicole Smith story. good
Nika Louie - Bad Andrew Bolt discovers there is a Good Andrew Bolt in another parallel universe. He decides he has to kill him, or his goodness will permeate into his universe and kill him. He breaks into Good Bolt's universe and decides to f*ck him to death, but Good Bolt knew he was going to do this, so he snaps his knob off and beat Bad Bolt to death. Very different, and much more clever than the usually "pumping" stories that we get.
Jordan Raskopolous - Dr Who saves Emperor Tiberius, so a slave girl offers to have sex with him. I would have expected something more technically clever, but he got one TARDIS gag in, and some jibs at the show.
David Cunningham - Jabba the Hut and Princes Leia get horny. I make it sound simple, but OMG, it was brilliant. Not only the story was expertly constructed, but it was accompanied in all it's squelcheness with graphic drawings from the net. Excellent +.
Genevieve Fricker - told her real life true story about having sex with stars. Good
Benjamin Law - Cory Bernardi anti gay stance backfires when his dog mounts him when incapacitated.
The repulsive groaning is as much fun as the comedy. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
30.10.14 : John Wick - movie
Action | Thriller : An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. There has been a spate of these one man killing machine movies with simple storyline, ie The Equalizer, A Walk Among the Tombstones, but this is the weakest of the three. Very weak premise, but enough action that it's an ok time filler. 2.75
24.10.14 : Fury - movie
Action | Drama | War : A battle-hardened army sergeant commands a Sherman tank against overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany. It's Hollywood tripe - they should have got a military tactician, rather than an hair technician -, but the uninitiated might find it ok. It would have been better if it was based on actual fact, like the short combat lifespan of Sherman tank crews because it was such a POS of a tank - all speed, weak gun, and no armour -, but they went for some heroic moronic crap instead. 2
23.10.14 : This Is Where I Leave You - movie
Comedy | Drama : When their father passes away four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home, with all their problems, and live together for a week. I think it was ok, but because have trouble concentrating lately I missed most of the film and can't be sure. Maybe 2.75-ish. na
20.10.14 : Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - movie
Action | Adventure | Comedy : Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, need I say more. I had no interest in this movie until cheap tickets changed my mind, and after seeing it, I can report it wasn't horrid. In fact it was a decent movie for the age level it was intended for, but because I'm older it was only adequate. Passes the time ok. 2.75
16.10.14 : Before I Go to Sleep - movie
Drama | Mystery | Thriller : A woman wakes up every day not remembering her dark past. It's nothing outstanding, but it fills the time ok. The problem is that the memory loss concept has been done in movies before - and much better -, so it looses the surprise element of a novel idea, but things do pick-up with the twist at the end. 3
15.10.14 : A Walk Among the Tombstones - movie
Crime | Drama : A private investigator is hired to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife. If you can handle sick f*cks cutting up bodies, it's ok. 3
06.10.14 : Story Club - Spiralling Out of Control: The Giant Dwarf Theatre
It was one of the quieter ones, but it was still nice.
Ben Jenkins - This is the bad business acumen edition, because this story told of the disastrous trip of his comedy troupe The Disillusionists to the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Inexperience, but mainly stupidity, made the going-ons quite funny.
Cait Harris (Playwright, Actor, Funny Lady, Virgo) - It's always fun when these very young kindergarden stuff is transposed in to an adult's perspective. Really cute.
Michael Hing (Sometime Radio Host, All Time Funny Man, Podcaster at Free To A Good Home) - The story of when he purposely broke up with his girlfriend, so that that he could play a video games. Not exactly like that - I was trying to build the comedy -, because it was a world wide comp that may have had him playing games professionally in Korea.
Jonathan Holmes (Media Watch, The Age) - His disastrous stint as a TV director that went terribly wrong one night - you still see it on blooper reels occasionally -, where the old fashioned complicated system they were using had him prompting the next clip, rather than the appropriate clip for the hosts commentary.
Kate Mulvany (Award Winning Playwright & Brilliant Actor on The Stage, The Telly and The Big Screen) - Stint working as a newly employed funeral director, where she fell in a grave, broke a dead woman's finger, and smashed the hurst.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Watching businesses going under from a distance due to bad business acumen, ie stupidity.
Ben Jenkins - This is the bad business acumen edition, because this story told of the disastrous trip of his comedy troupe The Disillusionists to the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Inexperience, but mainly stupidity, made the going-ons quite funny.
Cait Harris (Playwright, Actor, Funny Lady, Virgo) - It's always fun when these very young kindergarden stuff is transposed in to an adult's perspective. Really cute.
Michael Hing (Sometime Radio Host, All Time Funny Man, Podcaster at Free To A Good Home) - The story of when he purposely broke up with his girlfriend, so that that he could play a video games. Not exactly like that - I was trying to build the comedy -, because it was a world wide comp that may have had him playing games professionally in Korea.
Jonathan Holmes (Media Watch, The Age) - His disastrous stint as a TV director that went terribly wrong one night - you still see it on blooper reels occasionally -, where the old fashioned complicated system they were using had him prompting the next clip, rather than the appropriate clip for the hosts commentary.
Kate Mulvany (Award Winning Playwright & Brilliant Actor on The Stage, The Telly and The Big Screen) - Stint working as a newly employed funeral director, where she fell in a grave, broke a dead woman's finger, and smashed the hurst.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Watching businesses going under from a distance due to bad business acumen, ie stupidity.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
06.10.14 : Dracula Untold - movie
Action | Drama | Fantasy : Vlad Tepes looks to make a deal with dangerous supernatural forces to defeat his foes. It's what you would expect for a fantasy - entertainment over logic - it's just that it's kind of middle of a middle of the road one. I didn't love it, but it was watachable. 2.75
29.09.14 : The Little Death - movie
Comedy : In a multi story narrative, we peer behind the closed doors of a seemingly normal suburban street. It's about fetishes disclosed, and undisclosed. Technically it's put together well, but there is just something about it that's not engaging. It's not particularly funny, and not that lovable, and even some of the subject matter is quite morally dark, so it's missing the things that make you feel good, in fact the only nice part was the sign interpreter near the end. Didn't feel much. 2.75
25.09.14 : The Equalizer - movie
Action | Crime | Thriller : When a man with a secret past meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by. This movie is the story of how the Equalizer become the hired Equalizer of the TV series. After Margaret and David panned this film I was expecting to be annoyed by it - I hate films with annoying facets -, but I wasn't. I like my heroes to be hard - it makes me think all bad people get their just deserts -, and smart, and this one definitely is. No work of art, but entertaining for the whole length. 3.5
24.09.14 : The Bear Pack #6 : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Even though the show was fine, they bumped the door price to $20 - I wish they would warn you if the advertised price doesn't hold at the door -, so this is probably my last Bear Pack. The first half soap opera was a touch down on previous ones, but it was so close that it was still the highlight of the night for me. 3.75. I only really go for the first half soap opera, but I stuck around for half of the Bear Pack - I got tired from doing gardening earlier that day -, and it looked like one of the better ones. Carlo usually gets pushed around, but what I liked about tonight was that he was the aristocrat master character pushing his butler around. I still reckon that they should add a mystery guest like they did one year at the SCF. n/a. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : na PS there was a price mix-up at the door, so it was a one off problem.
23.09.14 : Confession Booth #10 : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Is was the heavy drinking wine episode.
A.H. Cayley - Was having trouble with her internet so she put a complaint to a less than helpful John. 1 month of no internet and incompetent and condescending John had her switch providers, but as punishment she sent all manner of superfluous emails to flood his mailbox.
Matt Banham(comedian, writer, musician, You Tube phenomenon) - Due to stage fright a very drunk, but very funny, Matt told us about bulling his brother and sister. He Dustbuster-ed his sisters hair off, he made his brother sh*t in a can, he told his brother to show his pet locust to the dog, which promptly ate it. It was like Drunk History, but even funnier, and if that wasn't enough in the background AHC tried to hide the wine, but that didn't stop Matt finding more. Killer funny,
Tracey Spicer(journalist, broadcaster, newsreader, columnist, keynote speaker, MC, media trainer, ambassador) - Broke the 7 deadly sins of lust by sleeping a hair brush, scratching a guy with her finger nails and making him bleed on the di*k, sleeping with 2 girls even though she didn't know how to drive that bus, and swore on national TV. Funny
Matt Roden did the usual audience confessions, which are always funny.
Benjamin Law(journalist, author, screenwriter and Good Weekend columnist) - Was the model student that never did wrong. But one day when he imitated his teacher, just after a sex education talk, to gain favour with his friends. He banged on the sex book with a ruler while imitating the teacher accent, but when he looked down he noticed that the book was chopped to shreds by what was a metal ruler.
Yumi Stynes(broadcaster, writer, columnist, and former bass player in The Punisherz) - Told of her hate for sport. Unfortunately her timing was off, because she moved to Sydney just before the Olympics.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
A.H. Cayley - Was having trouble with her internet so she put a complaint to a less than helpful John. 1 month of no internet and incompetent and condescending John had her switch providers, but as punishment she sent all manner of superfluous emails to flood his mailbox.
Matt Banham(comedian, writer, musician, You Tube phenomenon) - Due to stage fright a very drunk, but very funny, Matt told us about bulling his brother and sister. He Dustbuster-ed his sisters hair off, he made his brother sh*t in a can, he told his brother to show his pet locust to the dog, which promptly ate it. It was like Drunk History, but even funnier, and if that wasn't enough in the background AHC tried to hide the wine, but that didn't stop Matt finding more. Killer funny,
Tracey Spicer(journalist, broadcaster, newsreader, columnist, keynote speaker, MC, media trainer, ambassador) - Broke the 7 deadly sins of lust by sleeping a hair brush, scratching a guy with her finger nails and making him bleed on the di*k, sleeping with 2 girls even though she didn't know how to drive that bus, and swore on national TV. Funny
Matt Roden did the usual audience confessions, which are always funny.
Benjamin Law(journalist, author, screenwriter and Good Weekend columnist) - Was the model student that never did wrong. But one day when he imitated his teacher, just after a sex education talk, to gain favour with his friends. He banged on the sex book with a ruler while imitating the teacher accent, but when he looked down he noticed that the book was chopped to shreds by what was a metal ruler.
Yumi Stynes(broadcaster, writer, columnist, and former bass player in The Punisherz) - Told of her hate for sport. Unfortunately her timing was off, because she moved to Sydney just before the Olympics.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
23.09.14 : Wish I Was Here - movie
Comedy | Drama : Aidan Bloom is a 35-year-old man who finds himself at major crossroads that forces him to examine his life, his career, and his family. I'm a Zach Braff fan, so I had to go. Even though this is not his best work if you are a fan, it will be acceptable. If you're not a fan, I don't think there is enough in this film to warrant seeing it. Lacks that warm a fuzzy feeling of his other films, so it nothing special. 3
23.09.14 : The Infinite Man - movie
Comedy : A man's attempts to construct the ultimate romantic weekend, with the help of a time machine. It doesn't have a big budget so it doesn't have the niceties - things like a good looking Hollywood time machine, etc -, but what it lacks in most departments, it over doses in concepts and ideas. This was too convoluted for Margaret and David to follow, but they still loved it, and that was enough for me to go and see it. I've seen convoluted time travelling stories before, and have worked them all out, but this is so super convoluted that no one will ever be able to map it all out in their heads even with multiple viewings. This may seem like a big turn off but it actually doesn't matter, because it has key scenes repeated in different ways that you will remember. It has a sparse, minimalist, simple, look - probably due to the budget - but the story is so far beyond what has been seen before, that you really have to see it just for the novelty value. 3.75
20.09.14 : Erotic Fan Fiction - Behind the Music : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
They went for a Sat this month, and I would have bet money that more people would've turned up, yet slightly less did, so it will go back to Thur. EFF is changing from straight storytelling to a kind-of performance storytelling, because some acts added extra stuff making it more of a performance.
Eddie Sharp & Fran Middleton got together for a kind-of mock play, so as to enhance their story. Eddie came out pant-less and claimed that he was knocked unconscious from vigorous love making with the ghost of Louis Armstrong that came out of Fran's flute while they were camping.
Max Lavergne had Julia Stone on a blind date with someone named Angus Stone.
Lady Sings It Better added singing to their story about homo erotic love making between Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke. There was idiotic quotes and dumb lyrics spoken by the two that just made if funnier. If you analyse these stories they are a kind of send-up of the famous peoples actions and foibles, mixed with graphic love making, so the more you know about the famous person the funnier it is. These characters were out of my era, but I still knew enough to make it funny for me.
Thomas Rawle (Papa VS Pretty) adding all the sound effects and music to accompany his story about a robot Cher having sex with robot Daft Punk members D1 and D2. All the characters spoke in electronic voices, but the funniest bit was when D1 was feeling Cher's tits and it was accompanied by Microsoft Windows sounds.
Elmo Keep had a woman at a bar on the pick-up eyeing men when a the voice of Google tells her all their faults based on their personal details gathered from internet usage. It was a clever take in internet privacy vs ease of use.
Virginia Gay! (Winners and Losers) added character voices for the dialogue in her story about Lada Gaga being rogered by Beyonce with her own Grammy award. There was heaps of famous people as extras, and the more you knew about them the funnier it was - some were out of my era also -.
Always good, but again the reserved crowd made it hard to read how much the crowd liked it. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
19.09.14 : The Maze Runner - movie
Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi : Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze. On the outside this looked like another boring, moronic, BS teen Sci-Fi, but it wasn't, if anything you could say it was an entertaining, interesting, without much point, teen Sci-Fi. The whole movie runs on mystery, and that was enough to keep me interested for the whole 2 hours. It doesn't go anywhere logical, but it is interesting, and being entertained is all that I ask for. I liked it. 3.5
12.09.14 : If I Stay - movie
Drama : During a romance a tragedy strikes. It falls over in the dream sequence - it was never intended to be a technical dramatic masterpiece -, but overall it was a nice film, but with a tragedy in the middle. I didn't mind it at all. Nice 3.5
11.09.14 : The Giver - movie
Drama | Sci-Fi : In a seemingly perfect community a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world. It is better than the current spate of moronic teen PG13 Sci-Fi around, eg Hunger Games. Basically it's a more convoluted and intelligent version of Logan's Run(1976). It's kind-of a different version of something old, so it was nothing new to me. Ok 3.5
10.9.14 : Carlo Ritchie - Wanking At Strangers : The Factory Theatre
There was a bit of improvised story telling at the start before the crux of the show, which was his tales of chasing non-existent love. We've all done stupid things for the opposite sex, but Carlo took them to insane levels like chasing a girl to the Arctic Circle that he only met once. It's good because it's funny. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
10.9.14 : Michael Hing: Bildungsroman at 28 : Hurstville City Library
Even thought I have probably heard all the gags at subsequent shows, I don't remember seeing this show in it's entirety when it came out - I don't think there were many Sydney shows -, so I went just in case. Unfortunately for me he didn't do Bildungsroman at 28, but trialled material for the next show. At professional shows Michael get to the material straight away, but I notice that these impromptu shows usually have a bit of meandering at the start. It's not really a problem at a free show, and once the material started everyone forgot about it. It was fine, but it was mainly repeats for me. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
09.09.14 : What We Do in the Shadows - movie
Comedy : Semi domesticated vampires living in a share-house in New Zealand. I was umming and ahhing about whether to go see this because the reviews were so mixed. Margaret and David absolutely panned the hell out of this movie, but the online critics absolutely loved it. The trailer didn't look brilliant, but neither was it horrid, but it did look like there was enough that it would be tolerable to decent - not a fan of unfunny satirical comedy -. What I can report was that it was subtle craziness, and that made it good enough to be fun. It's probably a 3.75 but I'll give it a 4 because I liked it. 4
08.09.14 : That’ll Learn You - Academia, Science, Comedy : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
It wasn't super sonic, but there was enough funnies and interesting stuff to made me like it. It's a live panel show that leans more toward the comedy side than Nerd Night. It has a question section, 2 short talks by experts, and cross examination by the panel, social media, and audience. Dr Justine Rogers was rather good - she can drift sometimes - because she quickly filled dead spots with clever commentary and questions. Dr Jon Clarke (President of Mars Society Australia) talked about how a manned mission to Mars would accomplish much more that the current robots with their limitations. The presentation entailed slides from the robots that was pretty remarkable, like blue sunsets. Simon Pampena (Mathematician) told of how Australian have been winning world mathematics competitions lately, and then explained how one mathematician solved a very difficult problem - it took Simon 12 months to solve it - in a unique way, rather quickly during a competition. Jazz Twemlow (The Roast, the Guardian Oz) was the comedy part of team Mars, and Alex Lee (The Roast, ABC News 24) was on team Maths. Even though it wasn't strictly comedy, it was good in another way, and I would go again. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
08.09.14 : Predestination - movie
Sci-Fi | Thriller : A time-travelling Temporal Agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. Margaret and David were confused, but loved this film, and when they are confused by Sci-Fi, it's probably worth seeing. I could follow it, and it did make sense, but you need to pay a bit more attention than usual because it's an extreme form of this type of movie. It felt like a 3.75 to me, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say 4 for the public. 4
05.09.14 : Into the Storm - movie
Action | Thriller : Storm trackers document an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes touching down in the town of Silverton. You don't have to be a psychic to know this is going to be a vacuous movie driven only by CGI. The dialogue and acting is horrendous, and the movie shot on personal shaky cams by the characters doesn't help, but one thing it does have going for it is that the vision of the storm is awesome. It has great new perspectives of the action, and.footage that obeys the laws of physics, so that it looks quite realistic. I tuned out during the lame plots, but was quite impressed by the action. 3
04.09.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories of Sydney : Surry Hills Library
A new crew took over for this month, and it wasn't my cup of tea. The stories were pretty conventional, and with none of the flair of a well constructed Story Club show, so they were pretty plain - it was like a SBS 7 billion stories night -. One was about picking up, but was delivered in youth-speak so I didn't understand the words. One was about relatives giving unsubtle hints to a Lebanese girl to get married - done to death in the Wog Boys era -, with the revelation that Leb guys get more waxing than the girls. And one was about a Vietnamese guy having to bury the cat. It wasn't horrid, it's just that I wasn't interested because I live that suburban life everyday. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 2
03.09.14 : Nerd Nite Sydney : The Attic Lounge - The Arthouse Hotel
Dr Sarah Perkins (Climate Change Research UNSW) - The changing nature of heatwaves in Australia. Reinterpreting weather data so that heatwaves can be seen with more certainty - data does show they were are getting more -.
Dr Brock Bastian (School of Psychology UNSW) - Three things about happiness you might not have known. Basically if you do happy things all the time, you feel the sad things more, so stay sad and the happy times get accentuated.
Dr Mike Kasumovic (Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW) - Why we love video games (and it's not just because they're awesome. Trying to decipher the Psychological mechanism of individuals while they play video games. It basically covered hostile behaviour in online gaming, like the worse a player was, the bigger a hatter they are. Bad young male players, and bad any age female players, were more likely to leave bad comments after a game to try degrade someone so that they feel more dominant, and it in their minds more desirable in the gene pool
It wasn't my favourite one, but it was still interesting. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
Comedy | Drama | Music : A chance encounter between a disgraced music-business executive and a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan turns into a promising collaboration. I would've melted for something like this 15 years ago, because I used to drive all over Sydney chasing that sound. I've moved on these days, and less effected by it, but it was still a pretty nice. There wasn't anything I didn't like, unlike every movie I see these days, but I would say it's more for the middle-agers. 3.75
01.09.14 : Story Club - Breaking Point : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Always good. Even though the first half was repeats, I liked it the most.
Ben Jenkins(MC) - Hunting down some Geo-cache with one of the first GPS available in a spooky dark forest. This one was reworked and given added delivery, and that made it excellent-a-mundo.
Mark Sutton (producer RN Drive, ABC, plus funny) - SydUni drama club that tried to make a complicated Terry Pratchett novel into a play. This was about the train wreck play that was so miss handled by the director, that no one even knew what was going on. Super excellent again
Nick Sun (very funny man) - Getting a meaningless job to instil self worth. I'm not a fan of his standup because it has a low hit rate with me, but his story stuff is brilliant. This and the ménage à trois story, with it's dead delivery, are super sonic funny.
Craig Reucassel (Story Dad, Host of Balls of Steel, Mr Trololo plus Chaser) - Being chased all over Newtown by fictional Police while in a delusional high state. Good
Masha Gessen (Russian-American journo, author, Activist, writes for Slate, NY Times, Vanity Fair, Loads More) Being summonsed to Vladmir Putin office. I remembered this from somewhere, but it was still pretty interesting.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Neighbour war in Survivor Annandale. This story doesn't lend itself to to the usual Zoe dramatic delivery, but it was still fine.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
Ben Jenkins(MC) - Hunting down some Geo-cache with one of the first GPS available in a spooky dark forest. This one was reworked and given added delivery, and that made it excellent-a-mundo.
Mark Sutton (producer RN Drive, ABC, plus funny) - SydUni drama club that tried to make a complicated Terry Pratchett novel into a play. This was about the train wreck play that was so miss handled by the director, that no one even knew what was going on. Super excellent again
Nick Sun (very funny man) - Getting a meaningless job to instil self worth. I'm not a fan of his standup because it has a low hit rate with me, but his story stuff is brilliant. This and the ménage à trois story, with it's dead delivery, are super sonic funny.
Craig Reucassel (Story Dad, Host of Balls of Steel, Mr Trololo plus Chaser) - Being chased all over Newtown by fictional Police while in a delusional high state. Good
Masha Gessen (Russian-American journo, author, Activist, writes for Slate, NY Times, Vanity Fair, Loads More) Being summonsed to Vladmir Putin office. I remembered this from somewhere, but it was still pretty interesting.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Neighbour war in Survivor Annandale. This story doesn't lend itself to to the usual Zoe dramatic delivery, but it was still fine.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
25.08.14 : Lacey-Williams-Magee Three-Way Trial Show : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I don't know how they will do with 1 hour shows each - it tends to put laughs further apart if you don't have enough material -, but the 3 of them doing 30, 15,and 30 minute slots was quite alright. The easiest way to make a show better is to mix-it-up with short blocks of different types of comedy, like a song, an audience participation, etc, because it adds the illusion that more is happening, and it keeps attention because people only need short sans of it.
Jon Williams is Inappropriate - This was the most constructed on the night. It had an audience participation section. A reinterpreting of stuff from the past with modern standards, like pointing out things in the TV show He-man that make it seam a bit gay - even though you shouldn't compare different eras, it always produces a laugh -. To a history of his youth watching TV and loving the characters, to now where his wonderful characters are viewed as racist because of their accents - to me they are just generic characters, so if you see a race in them you are the one being racist -. With Jon's fast talking and high energy the 30 minutes didn't have any lulls to make it fell sparse.
Pat Magee - Read the story he wrote called Tincakes & Sausages. This wasn't as wacky as his ludicrous stories about his famous relative, so there were sections of fairly conventional story only punctuated at by the odd joke at random intervals. It's fine, but I hope the whole hour has more than just reading stories.
Eden Lacey - He went with playing weird characters, with dialogue probably made up on the fly. There was a camp actor that didn't like the audience, an Englishman talking about cricket even though he knew nothing about it, and a girl in a nightclub using the audience as people to pickup.
Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
22.08.14 : The Expendables 3 - movie
Action | Adventure | Thriller : Barney has to take down an arms dealer with a difference. 1 was a bit plain. 2 was quite decent. 3 has a touch more story but lacks the fun aspect of the others - same repeated jokes weren't funny -, so it comes in at ok. 3.25
15.08.14 : Guardians of the Galaxy - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser. Half way through I was thinking that this movie isn't that special except for the visuals, and why others rated it highly, when I realised why. The trailer pushed the comedy angle, but because this movie isn't that funny I was disappointed due to the lack of it. Visually ok, but ignore the comedy element because it's very sparse and a bit lame. 3.5
13.08.14 : My Geek Rules : Town Hall, Sydney
The University of Sydney and The City of Sydney invite you to celebrate National Science Week with everyone's favourite Sleek Geeks, Adam Spencer and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Dr Karl seams to do a show at Sydney Uni every time he releases a book, and even though both shows are similar, these two together are better than Dr Karl on his own because the talk is more structured and less scattered. The format is basically jumping around between different science topics. It included the history of Alan Turing, British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and the person regarded as the Father of the computer. The massive advances of computers - the Cray-2 super computer of 1985 is only as fast as a iPad 2 these days -. They covered 3D printing. Dr Karl's rise and fall in the Reader's Digest Most Trusted polls - Adam constructed an equation to predict his fall -. The word "Selfie"(Oxford Dictionaries 2013 word of the year) was first put in print by an Australian in 2002 on an ABC science forum site that Dr Karl ran - they got the actual guy on stage -. This prompted Adam to selfie himself with as many Nobel prize winners while at a science conference in Europe, and as many famous Australian soccer players when he was hosting at the Australia vs Uruguay (16/11/2005 - Sydney) World Cup Qualifier 2006. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
07.08.14 : Late Night Library @ Surry Hills: Teen Diary Readings : Surry Hills Library
Embarrassingly brilliant again. I guess everyone remembered how good the last one was because the place was full.
Charlie Bachali's diary was about a boy who used to treat her like crap. But because she had a crush on him she always put it a positive spin to itin her mind. There was a Brendon shrine, max handjobs, and heaps of fingering.
Tim Derricourt wrote a letter to himself in 1995 when he was 12, to be opened in 2013. The letter came complete with fake stamp, brunt edges for fake ageing, a photo of himself, and seal on the envelope to stop tampering. The letter contained advice, like if you bald don't get a hair transplant, the word privileges spelt as privileges, and the fact that he was his own best role model.
Nat Rose - unsure because no names were posted for this event - didn't exactly look at the bright side of life when she was single.
Cameron James writes songs, and song writing is practically poetry, and most peoples early poetry is usually that embarrassingly corny forced rhyming stuff. But it looks like Cameron must be a decent song writer because it wasn't that ECFRS, but more intelligent naturally rhyming stuff, that was more clever than embarrassing.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
03-06.08.14 : Skiing : Snowy Mountains
Skied for 1 hour, had accident, sat out the 3 days.
01.08.14 : Lucy - movie
Action | Sci-Fi : A woman accidentally gets caught in a dark deal, and transformed in to something more. Even though this is not of the same franchise you could practically say this is Limtless2, just a version that's not done as well as the original. If this movie was done differently it would have been super, but as it stands it's just below good. 3.75
31.07.14 : Edition of Erotic Fan : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
We learnt a few things tonight. 1 - Eddie Sharp didn't do much crowd hyping at the start, which is the one thing non reactive Sydney crowds needs, but he did in the second half, and it relaxed the crowd enough to actually do something, like clap. 2 - there aren't many jokes about sex any more, because we have been desensitised to most of them. 3 - sex jokes get old fast if they are too similar - do the Constanza hit and run technique and move on after you get the first laugh -.
Eddie Sharp - read the famous love letters of James Joyce. Very clever and super funny, even though it went on a bit too long on his anal fetish.
geed the crowd up at the start of the second half
Becky Lucas - told about Blink-182's Travis Barker plane crash on an isolated island, where he found famous dead people
Cameron James and Jared Jekyll - did a song about Led Zeppelin, recounting their antices on the road like the famous Jimmy Page inserting a fish incident.
Veronica Milsom - Did a very sexy Postman Pat.
Henry Stone - told about Matthew McConaughey stay in Australia as an exchange student - complete with accent -, and how he f*cked a Chiko roll.
Ian "Dicko" Dickson - did the EFF based on the James Packer and David Gyngell fight, but changed it to them f*cking.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
Eddie Sharp - read the famous love letters of James Joyce. Very clever and super funny, even though it went on a bit too long on his anal fetish.
geed the crowd up at the start of the second half
Becky Lucas - told about Blink-182's Travis Barker plane crash on an isolated island, where he found famous dead people
Cameron James and Jared Jekyll - did a song about Led Zeppelin, recounting their antices on the road like the famous Jimmy Page inserting a fish incident.
Veronica Milsom - Did a very sexy Postman Pat.
Henry Stone - told about Matthew McConaughey stay in Australia as an exchange student - complete with accent -, and how he f*cked a Chiko roll.
Ian "Dicko" Dickson - did the EFF based on the James Packer and David Gyngell fight, but changed it to them f*cking.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
This wasn't the big celebrity version of the last one, so the crowd reflected that, but what it lacked in status it made up for with a couple of exceptional stories. The long periods of dead time waiting was excruciating, but I made it long enough to get to the good stuff, so it was worth it in the end.
Genevieve Fricker it was her un-remorseful pilfering of a friends stuff, that that made us all question here ethics.
Nick Sun I thought Nick's fast unemotional delivery was detracting from the story, but after I caught up I see it was essential in adding to the insanity. For someone that was sexually repressed in his youth due to shyness, Nick seams to get a lot of sex based on the amount of stories he tells about it. This one was about awkwardly falling into a threesome, with the shear insanity of Nick over analyzing the situation making it brilliant.
Andrew Levins's send-up of a restaurant reviewers scoring system on Twitter became legendary when the tabloids caught hold of the story and made it their quest to flush out the culprit - they never did -. Brilliantly funny, and a very clever gag to pull.
Osher (Andrew) Günsberg(Andrew G) told of how he learnt the trade doing the difficult late night talk show slots, but it was the F-ups that made him a real man.
The night started mild but picked up with clever stuff, so it was quite decent even with the half sized crowd - would it kill you to clap when you're supposed to -. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
25.07.14 : Deliver Us from Evil - movie
Crime | Horror | Thriller : NY police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of strange crimes. I don't think you could put any more flickering light bulbs in a horror movie. For me it was an endurance test of clichéd effects that try to incite fear - I lasted 30 minutes before I got bored -. The Exorcist (1973) was scary when it came out, but if you try to watch it now you just laugh at what became clichéd horror effects. This is a better story, but the clichéd horror effects have been ramped up a thousand fold. 2.75
24.07.14 : Hercules - movie
Action | Adventure : Hercules must defeat a warlord. It wasn't what I was expecting - I thought it was going to be a fantasy -, but it's ok. 3.25
23.07.14 : The Bear Pack #5 : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Improv Soap Opera - Stolen school mascot : It was just as good as the first one Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
If I made it to the start of the second half I probably would have made it, but the brain said it had to go home.
22.07.14 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
Even before I left the house the agoraphobia was making me dread going to this show - the dead time travelling and waiting allows you to think too much -, but I reasoned that when it starts it's not too bad. The other problem was that the line-up wasn't that strong on paper, but then again you don't know so things could flip. Unfortunately things didn't flip, so it wasn't that great. The headliner was the same as a couple of shows ago, which didn't effect the mainly newby crowd, Luke Heggie went straight into his sarcastic routine without the slow start that allows the crowd to catch up to what he's putting out - sorry Rhys - so they were lost for a while. It was good to see Ray Badran(MC) after a long absence, but unfortunately he didn't bring anything new. On the plus side there was 3 comics I hadn't seen before, but unfortunately Geraldine Hickey and Wakka(JPN) weren't that LOL funny - still fine for a first time viewing -, with Jonathan Schuster being quite decent. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
17.07.14 : Sex Tape - movie
Comedy : A married couple discover that the sex tape is in the cloud. I knew it was going to be weak, because this premise always is, but unfortunately there wasn't enough comedy to make it decent. I was bored. 1
15.07.14 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
The first third was mild, but after that it rocketed off. Andrew Barnett(MC), Michael Workman did short mild sets. Anthony Salame is usually very funny, but after his 1 year stint on Lebanon radio he went with his recent travel stories, which were mild, rather than his usual funny superfluous comedy topics. Things really kicked off with Damien Power. The first time I saw him he was brilliant, but the second time was horrid - to be fair it was in a crap room - , this time he's bounced back with one of the best sets of the night. The surprise guest was Kitty Flanagan, who is always good - except for trial shows -. Tom Ballard did a long set, and also killed it. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
09.07.14 : LNL @ Newtown: Never Not Funny - Michael Hing : Newtown Library
I don't mind a trial show if it's free, it's the ones that you pay a considerable amount for, and aren't told are trials, that suck. Mild-ish crowd, but still a good night out. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
09.07.14 : Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - movie
Action | Drama : A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors. This new franchise totally butchers what was once good - at least the first 2 films of the old franchise. Gone is the intelligent Sci-Fi with Drama and mystery, and replaced by a moronic action film - the thing that killed the old franchise from the 3rd film on - that is very common these days. This movie is devoid of any Sci-Fi, and is all about emotions, feelings, and relationships, everything that a Sci-Fi nerd loathes. You could easily replace the humans and apes with any warring human factions, and this would just be another boring war film, but the stupidity makes this even worse, eg, there is 5 people telling the human leader that the apes spoke, and his replay was " I don't know what you think you saw, but that's ridiculous". Give me a break, how can 5 people be wrong. 1
07.06.14 : Story Club - On Second Thought : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I wasn't even close to getting in, because not only was it sold out, but there was 50 people in front of me waiting in hope that standing room at the back will become available.
03.07.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills - Stories about Death : Surry Hills Library
Usually you can disregard the theme of the night because most of the stories end up being something totally different with a tenuous link, but tonight was different. 2 of the stories used the theme literally, and being a serious subject, the laughs were reduced. That wasn't a deal breaker, because the poignancy of them still made it good, it's just that it was good in a different way. The reducing crowd reversed tonight, so the addition of a big crowd made it better.
Cathy Hunt - In involved a new flat mate down on his luck after a separation joining their sharehouse. But whether he intended it, or made a mistake, the new flat mate when into a diabetic coma that turned tragic.
Thomas McMullan - Seeing the band Interpol sandwiched between getting killed in a Game of Thrones video game.
Sophie Braham - Recounted her trip to the U.S. with a good friend and the times they had together, and the loss of the photos that would have been the only reminder of him, when he found it too hard to go on and decided he had to leave us.
Nick Coyle is Mr Tangent, because the story of how he got his groove back after being dumped drifted between reality and fantasy. It drifted between a binge drinking session, being eaten by a monster, and as you would expect with Nick, playing a ukulele.
I've got a bad tendency to snap to a low unexpectedly, and tonight I got half way there when I sudden;y realised I didn't want to be there. I was there physically, but not mentally, so I'm removing my score
Crowd : 3.75 - Me : na
02.07.14 : Nerd Nite Sydney : The Attic Lounge - The Arthouse HotelCathy Hunt - In involved a new flat mate down on his luck after a separation joining their sharehouse. But whether he intended it, or made a mistake, the new flat mate when into a diabetic coma that turned tragic.
Thomas McMullan - Seeing the band Interpol sandwiched between getting killed in a Game of Thrones video game.
Sophie Braham - Recounted her trip to the U.S. with a good friend and the times they had together, and the loss of the photos that would have been the only reminder of him, when he found it too hard to go on and decided he had to leave us.
Nick Coyle is Mr Tangent, because the story of how he got his groove back after being dumped drifted between reality and fantasy. It drifted between a binge drinking session, being eaten by a monster, and as you would expect with Nick, playing a ukulele.
I've got a bad tendency to snap to a low unexpectedly, and tonight I got half way there when I sudden;y realised I didn't want to be there. I was there physically, but not mentally, so I'm removing my score
Crowd : 3.75 - Me : na
It wasn't the engineering stuff I like, but it was still good
Philippa Lysaght - An Economists Guide to Peace GDP. Philippa explained it in basic terms that if people in a country didn't feel safe, they will spend their meagre resources on feeling safe rather than advancing themselves, and that links peace to stronger economies. I had already worked out the connections in this subject a couple of years ago, like the only way to advance yourself in a hostile country is immigrate to a more organised and peaceful country. If you think about it there is cause and effect to everything, and with more thinking you can trace problem back to the source. Just imagine how easy your life would be if there was no crime, eg, your car insurance would be half price if there was no criminals faking accidents and claims.
Adam Micolich - The physics of Jackson Pollock Is Pollock's work fractal? If so, is chaos playing a role in this? Pollock always claimed there was no chaos but science suggests otherwise.
Wade Fairclough -Why being a science geek means you don't have to grow up with
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
27.06.14 : Maleficent - moviePhilippa Lysaght - An Economists Guide to Peace GDP. Philippa explained it in basic terms that if people in a country didn't feel safe, they will spend their meagre resources on feeling safe rather than advancing themselves, and that links peace to stronger economies. I had already worked out the connections in this subject a couple of years ago, like the only way to advance yourself in a hostile country is immigrate to a more organised and peaceful country. If you think about it there is cause and effect to everything, and with more thinking you can trace problem back to the source. Just imagine how easy your life would be if there was no crime, eg, your car insurance would be half price if there was no criminals faking accidents and claims.
Adam Micolich - The physics of Jackson Pollock Is Pollock's work fractal? If so, is chaos playing a role in this? Pollock always claimed there was no chaos but science suggests otherwise.
Wade Fairclough -Why being a science geek means you don't have to grow up with
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
Action | Adventure | Family : A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess. This movie got average scores by the critics, but I thought it was pretty good. I don't know what David Stratton was looking at when he said it had illogical plot points, because I purposely looked for them, because he harped on about it, and didn't see one. 3.75
26.06.14 : Rock with Laughter : Rock Lily Star City Casino
Mikey" Robins(MC) Sally Kimpton, Alice Fraser Tien Tran. I remember seeing Tien when he was just a newcomer, and like all newcomers the material was sparse. Now fast forward a few short years and he's headlining, but with a very good and full routine. Everyone did long sets, and all were good, and even though the crowd is always reserved here, I don't think they are regulars to comedy because they always react when they are supposed to - just more quietly -. This one was also an eye rest night, but ended up quite good. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
25.06.14 : The Bear Pack #4 - : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I didn't want to go - I've kind-of seen so many that there is nothing new these days - but my sore eyes said I had to, and in the end, it turned out rather good.
Improv Soap Opera : I've seen a couple of these and some were ok, but on average they haven't been outstanding. Tonight with 7 Pros, it was outstanding. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.25
The Bear Pack : After seeing so many of these, and that this only has 2 Pros, you tend to know every move before hand, but with my recent sabbatical, it made this one quite good. A man must seek a God to bring his dead son back to life. With only 2 Pros this is going to have trouble matching the 7 Pros, but it was still pretty good. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
25.06.14 : Transformers: Age of Extinction - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : An scrapper makes a surprising discovery. This is more of the same, but for some reason it felt less than the previous ones. All these films use action to cover-up the deficiencies they have in every other department, and even though this one had lame dialogue and moronic clichéd plot points like the others, I found them annoying this time. 3.5
24.06.13 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
I only went so as to let my sore eyes recover from watching too much TV and computers lately. It's a decent enough show, but lately the crowds have been quite dead - they are probably regulars that know most of the comics already -. It was fine. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
19.06.14 : TOD Talks : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I went so I could find out what this is about, but afterwards I still didn't know what it was about. The first half wasn't much help - I couldn't even understand what one speaker was saying because the sound was muddy -. The second half gave clues with veterans like Zoe Norton Lodge and Michael Hing, and from what I could gather, this was a send-up of the TED talks using a ridiculous subject. If didn't know what a TED talk is - I only knew it was some kind-of talk on a serious subject -, and I think you need to be told the trick of this show before hand, which was something the host didn't do. It reminded me of the time I showed my friend the SBS Impro show Spontaneous Saturday. I was laughing, but he wasn't, and that's when I realised the shows host didn't tell the viewing audience that everything is improvised. As soon as I told him they were making it up on the fly, and not scripted, he laughed all the way through the rest of the show. There was no meat in any of the subjects, which didn't matter because this is supposed to be entertainment, but it was Zoe's dramatic delivery of nonsense - actually the delivery of 3 words -, that stood out. Michael's talk about the worship of the lord Beelzebub also good. The other weren't bad, it's just they didn't have as much laughs - to be fair I was still trying to work out what was going on -. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3
19.06.14 : 22 Jump Street- movieAction | Comedy | Crime : Schmidt and Jenko go deep undercover at a local college. The first one was lame, but this is better. The film sends it's self up, which is amusing, but the major comedy comes from the exaggerated characters that pop up occasionally - it would've been more funny if there was more of this -. It's got a few laughs, but nowhere near the 84% that is being touted. 3.25
13.06.14 : How to Train Your Dragon 2 - movie
Animation | Action | Adventure : Hiccup and Toothless go exploring, and discover even more dragons. I used to go and see these modern animations, but eventually came to the conclusion that they aren't intelligent enough for adult consumption - they used cuteness to cover up a moronic film -. But then HTTYD#1 came along, and it was the exact opposite. On paper this is as good as #1, but because it's darker it looses the cuteness, laughs, and ultimately most of the fun. Still a good movie, just not as much warm and fuzzy. 3.75
12.06.14 : Blended - movie
Comedy : After a bad blind date a man and woman find themselves stuck together at a resort for families. It made me laugh, so I'm going with good. It's that usual Sandler style of simple but funny, but in the upper end of the spectrum. 4
11.06.14 : LNL @ Newtown : Daniel Townes - The Other Side : Newtown Library
The story of everything that Daniel did wrong, or basically, how Daniel became a fu*kup. Not really comedy but more storytelling, and of subject matter that only young people will get - maybe not many of them either -, so it wasn't really my cup of tea. I don't think many people can understand how 50 cones a day can affect you, because most are recreational smokes that find it fun, so it was hard to sense how bad things got. I'm all for new material, but it just wasn't as funny like the old stuff, so I would say it's more a cathartic release for the author. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
09.06.14 : The Fault in Our Stars - movie
Drama | Romance : Hazel's illness incited depression, until Gus comes along. I fell for all the contrived sappiness and found it to be a sweet and attractive little film. 4
05.06.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories About Family : Surry Hills Library
The crowd must be hard core because the regular number of people came out in what was a cold and rainy night. Unfortunately this was one of the milder nights, where most of the stories were of the conventional and simpler type.
Eddie Sharp(MC) told of his crush toward his step sister, which was in the form of a letter.
Sime Knezevic told of his grandmother and the trouble understanding exactly what she says, because he's not well versed in her native tongue.
Lucy Wirth explained how she stole her sister's thunder, by being born on the same date and being the youngest - oddly her oldest sister's birthday is 10 days before there's, looks like someone's parent has a birthday 9 months previous -.
Phil Spencer told of how his conniving sister tricked him into taking the blame for something he didn't do.
Pat Magee went with Monday's Story Club car crash story.
Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
05.06.14 : Edge of Tomorrow - movie
Action | Sci-Fi : An officer finds himself caught in a time loop in a war with an alien race. For heavy movie goers you can see influences from other movies, but overall it's quite a good movie. A good story with secondary exaggerated Hollywood action, rather than something that is brain dead and totally subsists only on Hollywood BS, eg Godzilla. 4.25
03.06.13 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
Michael Goldstein, Alice Fraser, Dave Quirk, Steve Hughes, Jared Jekyll, Rhys Nicholson. I was good, it's just that it was one of the quieter ones. This was my favourite stand-up room last year, and it still is, and there was some stand-outs, it's just that it lacked the intensity of laughs of other shows here. The sizeable crowd was also a bit quiet, so it wasn't just me, but overall they still enjoyed it. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
02.06.14 : Story Club: The Impending Sense of Doom : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
I think I have to assess my scores, because it looks like I've been phoning in the 4's, when clearly Story Club 2.0 - technically 3.0 -, Giant Dwarf edition, is actually better than the original. I forgot that Story Club might not be LOL funny all the time, even though this was pretty close, but good in a different way. There wasn't one mild story in the bunch, in fact they all ranged from good, to excellent.
Ben Jenkins went with the "I shot a pig in the anus, while being punched in the face by Mike Shepherd" story
Pat Magee (Novelist & Humour Man) told of playing chicken with a garage door and a runaway car.
Annabel Crabb (Political Journo & Commentator) Being trapped in toilets seams to be the theme of the last two weeks - SWF, stand-up, and here - but Annabel told of the blow by blow live Tweets of a friend who was trapped in a toilet.
Derrick Brown (Poet and American Person) I wasn't enamoured with Derrick's poem at the SWF - not a poetry fan -, but this story was off-da-hook . It centred around one of those closed room religious confession talks where you confess to doing something bad, like AA, but what the room hadn't realised was that Derrick's confession was so embarrassing funny, that everyone in the confession - and also in Giant Dwarf Theatre - died from laughter.
Penelope Greenhalgh (The Checkout, Part-time Clown) did a story in a similar style to Zoe's 'toddler with an adults perspective', where she tried to prove she was smarter than the adults by throwing a dog off the balcony to prove it could fly.
Rob Carlton (Logie Possessor, Is Kerry Packer) It started off very emotionally, but with Rob's mastery he quickly turned it into a funny tale of meeting weird Bogan strangers while hitch-hiking in the outback.
Zoe Norton Lodge & (Story Captains) This was the story of fighting grandparents, where the self-righteous, perfect in her mind, grandmother has to deal with her doddering and hopeless, in her mind, husband. The dramatic delivery and constructing of the story makes this brilliant/funny, but for me this I liked this second reading/performance better - the Greek in the first one seamed foreign to me at the time -. It's never just a reading with Zoe, it's a performance, and that is why she got a standing ovation for this remarkable piece.
Crowd : 5 - Me : 4.75
