0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
29.05.14 : Erotic Fan Fiction : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
The first half had some mad writing skills, with the second half being pretty close but more conventional. They went with a 90s theme for this show, and even though it wasn't my childhood I knew enough to get by, just not enough to be entranced like the younger audience did.
Eddie Sharp was dogging Burt Newtown while being dogged by Kerri-Anne Kennerley with a strap-on, in a time travelling Channel 9 sex-fest.
Genevieve Fricker had the Frasier brothers inside each other.
Rhys Nicholson dragged out every 90s Disney character for a mass Disney orgy.
The first half ended with the usual Rhys weirdness when he started out making out with Gen on the couch, while Eddie was talking to the audience. Eddie didn't know what was happening behind him and was perplexed as to why people were laughing at his simple spruiking of the second half.
Elana Stone did her Black American singing Divas fighting and then loving story, and followed it up with an audience sing-song - I had heard this one before -.
Zoe Norton Lodge had the Nanny cross dressing as a man and having it off with Andrew Lloyd Webber, to seal a deal to produce a Musical.
Andrew Denton had Thomas the Tank engine's piston rods inside a hot firebox, in what was steam and metal train love.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
29.05.14 : A Million Ways to Die in the West - movie
Comedy | Western : A cowardly farmer has trouble adapting to the violent Western frontier. The comedy is mainly modern problems transposed to the style of an early Western. Seth MacFarlane probably wasn't the best choice for this film, but it's amusing enough that I didn't mind it at all. It's that weird comedy, which I like, so for others I would say it's an acquired taste. 3.5
24.05.14 : Story Club - SWF edition - When the Wheels Came Off : Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay
I knew there would be repeats, but there is something about going on a Saturday night that makes you look forward to it - no agoraphobia this time -. Big crowds are good, but as usual they were a bit reserved for most of the stories.
Ben Jenkins went with the toxoplasma gondii story.
Lally Katz (Award Winning Dramatist & TV Writer) started abusing random people.
Michelle Law (Award winning writer, co-author of Sh*t Asian Mothers Say) went with conventional stories about when she embarrassed herself.
Richard Morecroft (Former ABC News Presenter, Host of Letters & Numbers) told of the story were he had been mistaken for having a face lift.
Zoe Norton Lodge again stole the show with her story about the 2000 Olympics Bathurst band camp.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
24.05.14 : The Chaser’s Empty Vessel - SWF edition : Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay
I'm not a fan of this show because it tends toward the serious side - I'm on a total news ban because it's designed to illicit emotions for ratings, so my motto is that I would rather be ignorant that upset -. I only had interest in the British scientist Andrew Solomon (International) because of the science based subjects, but even they were glossed over somewhat. Jim Al-Khalili (International) told of what it was like interviewing parents of disabled and gifted children, and Yasmine El Rashidi (International) told about being in the Egyptian revolution. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3
22.05.14 : X-Men: Days of Future Past - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history. The problem with 95% of the action films released these days is that they are mindless - they used CGI and action to cover up a brain dead story -. This bucks the trend because it is one of the rare intelligent action films. Not action all the time - there is still quite a bit - but an intelligent story that keeps you intrigued all the way through. 4.25
20.05.14 : Pint of Science AU - Matters of the mind - The Ageing Brain : Harlequin Inn
It was a good talk, it's just that it didn't give that much hope for sufferers at this early stage.
Associate Professor Michael Valenzuela - Cognitive Functioning & Ageing : Mainly covered dementia - the subject I was most interested in -. Drugs directed toward the brain plaque have all failed, which is probably due to it being a resultant not a causation - 1/3 of people with brain plaques are perfectly normal, and show no sign of any loss of brain function -. Mental stimulation has shown very little difference, aerobic exercise also shows little difference, but resistive exercise 2 times a week has shown quite decent improvements.
Dr Lezanne Ooi - Stem Cells & Alzheimer's disease : Talked on how they make stem cells from patients with brain diseases so that they can test drugs on the disease.
Dr Amy Reichelt - Can neuroscience make you forget your ex? : Talked on how they dissociate an emotion from a memory with drugs, so that emotion doesn't reinforce the memory and you eventually forget that the memory was significant. 3.75
19.05.14 : Pint of Science AU - Atoms to Galaxies - Hunt for elementary particles: from God's particle to quantum computers : The Royal, Darlington
This series makes science accessible to the public by putting it in a pub. This one was more meaty compared to the other ones I have seen - they seamed to overviews, were as this was a brief run through everything -, so there was more to gain with these. We started with A/Prof Kevin Varvell - "The hunt for the Higgs boson", and it was all good except near the end where he didn't get simple enough for me to thoroughly understand everything. Second was Prof Stephen Bartlett - "From Majorana particles towards quantum computing", who was very good. The other quantum talk I went to was so vague and sparse, that it seamed like it would never work. But this one gave you everything, and in much more detail, giving the science much more credence. 3.75
16.05.14 : 6th Annual Yo Mama Battle : Factory Theatre
A 40 minute late start, and no seating for the people at the back, nearly had me doing a walk-out before it started, but the show ended up being good enough to stay. It would have been better if there was seating because my back gave out after 15 minutes, because I'm old, and that meant that I could only listen to the rest of the show while sitting on the floor. The show is basically an Impro game, hence why it was decent to watch, and because there was two improvisers in the contest it was logical that they were the only ones worth watching - the other show I saw years ago also only had two good combatants -. El Jaguar (not exactly MEX) stole the show with his hamminess, and was very funny. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
16.05.14 : Urzila Carlson - The Long Flight To Freedom : Comedy Store
There was so many exotic stories - most of us don't really know what happens in South Africa -, and she is so funny, I would say it's a must see. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
16.05.14 : Godzilla - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : Godzilla and friends. Not super dumb - don't mention Pacific Rim -, but dumb-ish. Somewhat bad acting and dialogue, but watchable. 3.25
15.05.14 : Wil Anderson - Wiluminati : Enmore Theatre
It's getting increasingly difficult for me to leave the house and watch comedy these days so I started wondering why I bothered buying this ticket, as I have seen him so many times, and what I came up with was that I go through the motions because I'm some type of OCD hoarder that has to collect the full set Wil Anderson shows. New York Wil Anderson is not the Wil Anderson of old, his new hair is a CLM (Alice Fraser's career limiting move) and his movement limiting osteoarthritis has reduced the energy of the show - I didn't realise how much his fast pacing and exaggerated hand movements added to the show until they were gone -. He has gone from a good comic that stood out, to that of an ordinary good comic. There was nothing wrong with tonight's show, because Will is always good, it just that it's different from what he was a couple of years ago. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
10.05.14 : 25th Annual Sydney Comedy Spelling Bee : Factory Theatre
I was so looking forward to seeing this, and even sat in my car for 3¼ hours waiting between shows, but they rushed the show, because of the short 1 hour format, and forgot to add the cleverness that makes this show funny. There were mistakes, like when a word was miss-pronounced by the judges, so as to confuse the contestants, the contestants didn't ask for any clues, like put it in a sentence, or give them a definition, and it's this vital part that the audience derives laughs from when they figure it out. Instead they just spelt the word phonetically, making this an ordinary spelling contest. Also the judges gave up with the miss-pronouncing after 2 words, and just gave out straight words, and this again made it just a boring spelling bee. I'm not even going to give it 0.25 of a point for the only gag I heard, "The bird seed was impeccable", and there's not going to be a crowd score because I left after 30 minutes and didn't know what their reactions were. Crowd : na - Me : 0
10.05.14 : Felicity Ward - The Iceberg : Enmore Theatre
It wasn't as funny as her last show, her 3rd show The Hedgehog Dilemma was always going to be hard beat, but was equal to her 1st and 2nd shows in laughs. The material and substance wasn't that strong, but the highly excitable/animated delivery added the energy that made it quite acceptable. Initially the highlight of the night was when Felicity spotted a 10 year old kid in the audience just after a rude joke, and tried to justify the rudeness, but because this is her rudest show I kind-off felt uncomfortable at how many rude concepts he was hearing. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
08.05.14 : Damien Power - Keit : Factory Theatre
This is the show that I was really looking forward to, because it was so good last year, but the lack of an audience(7) pretty much killed it, at least for me. The subject matter for the jokes leans somewhat toward the edgy serious side, and that's not good with small audiences because there isn't enough laugher to fill the gap while you are trying to analyse the facts. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3
08.05.14 : Ronny Chieng - Chieng Reaction : Factory Theatre
I only went to this one as a time filler before the show I really wanted to see, but it ended up being the best show of the night. I love it when Ronny gets angry - his Rottnest Death-trap Island rant is brilliant - and tonight he was at his angry best. Ronny has been doing this show for about a year, and in that time has transmogrified it from 3.5 ok, to angry good 4 - he emphasises the delivery more now -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
08.05.14 : A Date with Effie : Factory Theatre
I bought tickets to this in a spontaneous nostalgia moment, but realised afterward that it might not be that funny because Wog comedy is pretty passé these days. The show is light wog humour mixed with heavy "single girl looking for a man" humour, and because both types of comedy are pretty old and well worn, the first half is only mildly funny. Things pick up substantially in the second half with an audience participation section where she does these very funny ad-lib interviews with men in the audience for her potential date contest. First half not very funny, unless you are over 50 or 1st gen wog, with a very funny finish - 40 minutes 2.5, 20 minutes 4 -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
08.05.14 : Bad Neighbours - movie
Comedy : A couple with a newborn baby face unexpected difficulties after they are forced to live next to a fraternity house. The predictability pretty much kills all the comedy. 2
07.05.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
I was in Newtown thinking about seeing another show, but didn't want to wait 1½ hours, and that's when I remember that this was on. The line-up didn't look that strong - I will explain latter -, and the smallish crowd didn't help, but to their credit, most of the comics belted it out enthusiastically to make it quite good. MC Sean Woodland must have been disappointed with the small turn out, hence the mild delivery, but at least he did long sets, so he wasn't that bad. Peter Green was good, Craig Annis was enthusiastic, but it was Rebecca De Unamuno (Glasshouse, Hamish & Andy, The Big Bite, Kath & Kim) that stole the show. The reason I thought the line-up wasn't strong - at least for me -, was that I've seen Bek maybe 200 times in the last 23 years, and thought it was going to be more of the same. But this time she went for a pure stand-up routine, and a pretty decent one at that. You learn a lot from impro, like how to think quick, because Bek was handing out the quips pretty quick with the audience work, and how to add energy, by always being animated and excitable, which she handed out in spades. Thank heavens for the comics that battled on in adverse conditions to make it a good night. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
07.05.14 : Alice Fraser - Everyone's A Winner : Factory Theatre
I'm not supposed to bring personal sh!t to a show, but I did, and that resulted in me stupidly distracting myself for the first 20 minutes - hence my score is redundant -. The show seamed as good as last year, and is sort of compartmentalised lateral comedy. The basic story revolves around her experience as a lawyer. The delivery is different because being a lawyer everything is organised into chapters of related items - hence compartmentalised -, and jokes are more of the clever non predictable punch-line type - hence lateral -, like "love must be blind, it's the only thing that explains why penises look that way". Crowd : 4 - Me : na
05.05.14 : Story Club: Mamma Always Said : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Unfortunately because I know too much it resulted in repeats, but it was still good.
Ben Jenkins (Prince of Storytown) : Told of the unexpected trust transfer when you sub let your abode. (3 times)
Phil Spencer (Playwright, Acting Artistic Director Rock Surfer's Theatre) : Told of getting locked in a morgue freezer. (3 times)
Scott Abbot (Comedian, Writer/Presenter The Checkout ABC1) : Told what it was like being basically a child minder while instructing kids in a ski school. (I didn't remember it at the time, but it felt familiar afterward)
Alex Lee (Comedian, Reporter Extraordinaire for The Roast ABC2) : Told the very unromantic story of how her parents met. (1 time)
Jonathan Holmes (Former Host of Media Watch ABC1, Journalist, Owner of Logie) : Proved again that racial profiling is still accurate at predicting behaviour when an old Turk man tried to take him home while he was in Istanbul in the 60's. (I didn't remember it at the time, but it felt familiar afterward)
Zoe Norton Lodge (Leading Thought Leader TEDxSydney 2014) : Told the story of how a guy disguised bondage prostitution as the rehearsal for a play. (1 time)
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
05.05.14 : The Other Woman - movie
Comedy | Romance : After discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly soon meets the wife he's been cheating on. Not super funny, but funny enough to be fun. 3.5
03.05.14 : Dom Irrera (USA) - Live : Comedy Store
Besides the stressful logistical nightmare associated with the venue - I was better off walking the 40 minutes than driving - Dom is always good value. I was happy enough when I left, but the show did feel lesser than last time and that's when I started thinking. This show had a warm-up act, but compared to Dom it's more of a de-warm-up act that cuts 12 minutes out of what you wanted to see. Also the intensity was less, and that's probably due to over familiarity with the jokes - the show is a different arrangement of Dom best jokes punctuated with ad-lib -, and that results in him forgetting to pack them tightly together any more. It was actually good that I haven't seen him for 3 years - 28.04.10 : Dom Irrera (USA) : Comedy Store 5 - because the familiar jokes were a bit more fuzzy in my head. Good, but you can see the score difference. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
02.05.14 : Rusty Berther - What, and Give Up Showbiz? : Factory Theatre
The idea of this show cam from Rusty's book What, and Give Up Showbiz?, which is a collection of stories from comedians about their worse gigs. He runs it in a panel type show with 3 guest comics that recount when things went wrong at gigs, and punctuates that with stories from the book of overseas comics misfortunes. The show is broken into categories, worse heckle, worse thing you did, worse crowd, etc, and tonight's guests Eddie Ifft, Tommy Dean, and Dave Eastgate recounted their related stories. An example story was that a patron died at a gig and Eddie had to apply CPR - he's trained -, but after that failed Eddie had to go on stage to do his set while the paramedics wheeled the body out - how do you follow that with d!ck jokes -. This was another 4 show, which alleviated the $100 cost of the night, and finished off a prefect night. This also had an audience applause problem. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 4
02.05.14 : Eddie Ifft - Train Wreck : Factory Theatre
Eddie is the last of the hard comics that is still commercial - so don't go if you have delicate sensibilities -, and that means that he will push comedy to risqué levels, but still keep the comedy credo of it having to be funny no matter what. Eddie is a guaranteed good time, but only for people who know what comedy is supposed to be - he's going to say some offensive things, but you have to remember that they are just jokes -. This is what comedy was like in the old days before PC limits, and that is why it's super funny. He is starting to get a group following from his podcast, which he calls sh!theads, and they got into the spirit of being sick f*cks and storming the stage with d!cks out. This also had the lack of applause problem. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4.25
02.05.14 : Lawrence Mooney - Stupid Liar : Factory Theatre
Mt dilemma was that I was pretty dead set on not going because Lawrence was so unfunny when he hosted Comedy Up Late last year - unfunny in 6 out of 7 episodes is a bad strike rate-. But I finally talked myself around by telling myself, when he appears on comedy panel shows he is always good - and the major kicker -, that I have never seen him live before - try everything once philosophy -. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that this was going to be unfunny, but instead was blown away with how brilliantly funny he was. The show was about 50% 4.25 and 50% 4.5, and that put him nearly dead heating with Dave Hughes last night. There seams to be trend this year where audiences doesn't applaud as much as they enjoyed a show - all the exiting comments said he was great -, so ignore the crowd volume score. Great show. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.5
01.05.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories About Home : Surry Hills Library
Why wouldn't you go. It's consistently good, and it's free.
Eddie Sharp gave advice on share-houses, ie, don't rock the boat.
Cait Harris told a heartfelt story about the her dog, and how he was home to her.
Ben Jenkins told how trust is transferred down the line, even if you don't intend it, when he trusted someone to lease his flat while he was away, and who trusted a 6 foot 300 man into the apartment when she was away.
Genevieve Fricker did a passive aggressive power-point presentation on annoying flatmates that was so extreme in variance - cute pictures followed by brutal murderous rage -, that it was the highlight of the night.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
01.05.14 : Sarah Kendall - Touchdown : Enmore Theatre
I went to this one purely on nostalgia reasons, as I used to see her around the traps before she moved to the UK a decade ago. It's actually been so long I don't remember any of her stuff, or how good she was, and in fact I only remember one gig where she supported Kitty Flanagan with Jackie Loeb at Guildford somewhere. The show is a story about the rare relationships she made as a teen in high school. To be honest, it's something like the embarrassing Teen Diary stories, but more complete, and there are a few small bits - about 3 - that an old audience might find trivial because it only relates to teens - they pass very quickly -, and then a serious sad/brilliant ending. It 3.5 with the last quarter a great 4. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
30.04.14 : Dave Hughes - Pointless : Factory Theatre
Woo Hoo, Dave's back. I thought Dave's had lost it after seeing his first come-back show, but this show strongly proves he's back in form again. That scathing sarcasm is so funny that he can make make any subject super funny, even if it's stuff you aren't interested in. Case in point is kid jokes. When comedians get to the age of having kids they add kid jokes - which is logical -, but the major demographic of comedy audiences is the younger, pre-kids, crowds that don't really have an interest in yet - that's why it's not wise to do full kid sets unless the audience is old -. Dave gets around this by being so over-the-top sarcastic, to the point that you wonder if he likes his own kids, that it makes it relatable to people who don't have kids. He practically whinges about kids as much as trendy people, who don't want kids, whinge, and that gets everyone on side. As an example, I overheard a girl who I could tell wasn't a Dave fan, and probably only went because of friends dragged her there, say "Even I had to laugh", like she didn't want to laugh, but couldn't stop herself laughing. People were dying in my area, and I could hear comments afterwards to that effect, so I'm pretty sure they loved it, but the odd thing was that the end applause wasn't that loud - probably because it's not cool to be seen applauding Dave these days, even if you like it -. Most of it was 4.25 - 4.5 with two 4.75 peaks, so it was the temporary medicine that lifted my flagging spirits. Great. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
30.04.14 : Plaything : Factory Theatre
It's one of those breaking the forth wall plays with those in-house gags that rib the theatre. It was basically characters playing characters that have no character - they got amnesia when they entered the room - who wander around lost doing nothing for 1 hour. Logically something could have happened, because the actors knew they were actors doing a play, and the obvious scenario would be that actors make something up so that it becomes a real play, instead doing nothing. It's nothing I haven't seen before, new, or clever, and was nothing I was really interested in. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : na
29.04.14 : Frank Woodley - Fool's Gold : Factory Theatre
I try to go to shows at the end of the week because of the bigger crowds, but because I don't care about comedy that much any more, and that fighting crowds is too hard, I went to this early week quieter show. As a direct comparison to previous Frank Woodly shows I would say that this one had less material - either that or the jokes were further apart - and that the jokes weren't as strong. This is not a problem for Fans, which was demonstrated with overheard good comments by the crowd on leaving, so you could practically ignore it. One of those quieter nights. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
29.04.14 : Transcendence - movie
Sci-Fi : Dr. Will Caster works toward his goal of creating an omniscient, sentient machine. Usually I'd be all over something Sci-Fi like this, but there was just something about it that didn't make it entirely engaging - as a guess I would say it's because it doesn't travel that fast -. I was questioning the motive of the machine by it's actions, and that made me realise who the culprit was before the end. I wished I like it more, but still ok to watch. 3.5-3.75ish
27.04.14 : Paul Foot(UK) - Words : Comedy Store
I loved the weirdness when he was on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and I wanted to love this even all they way to the end, but the problem was that it just wasn't that funny. It started with the recreation of the inane banter between stereotypes at a garden party, and to put across the the actual tedium of such a occasion it was recreated in all it's full dullness for the next 30 minutes. You could say that the laughs rose somewhat exponentially, 3 laughs in the first 30 minutes, 3 laughs in the next 15 minutes, 3 laughs in the next 7 minutes, and then not much to the end. For me there were no laughs from minute 0 to minute 32, and no laughs from minute 53 to minute 64. The 32 to 53 minute section was acceptable, because it fell within my minimum tolerance level for comedy, but unfortunately it was only a third of the show. It wasn't crap/bad where you want to walk out, but it was good where you get to laugh, it was more talking but with nothing to do. It's a shame it wasn't better and would recommend that you save your money and give it a miss, or at least find a video sample to see if it's your kind of thing. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 2.75
26.04.14 : David O'Doherty(IRE) - Will Try to Fix Everything : Enmore Theatre
The theme for the show is David trying to find happiness. It didn't feel quite as good as the 2 previous shows - there were extenuating circumstances -, but it was still good overall. It started a bit weird when the doors opened late due to the previous show. People were taking so long to get to their seats that David came out and did a little ad-lib filler - being on stage gives the impression the show has started, making people get to their seats quicker -. Unfortunately the filler made the show seam mild initially, thankfully around the 30 minute mark he hit a really good joke - which I vaguely remember from previous shows -, and that's when the show returned back to David's normal good show. David's stuff is more lovable funny than outright funny, but even after that I do remember the 2 previous shows with more affection - maybe they were better, maybe it was just me - When I'm not entirely enthralled I have time to think, and that's when I noticed I was only lightly giggling and the crowd was a bit quiet. In David's defence the crowd might have seamed quiet - earplugs may have dulled the performance because the laugh track is quieter - but they obviously loved him because they gave a huge 4.5 cheer with a 4.75 loudness peak. It was probably a 3.75 for me, but I'll give David the benefit of the doubt and go 4. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
24.04.14 : Wil Sylvince(USA) - Live : Comedy Store
Wil does observational comedy, but not the superficial stuff, more the real everyday life stuff - like a edgy Seinfeld with more real and relatable subjects -. As an example he painted a very vivid a picture of what it's like being a poor black man going through the sadistic Nazi-esque customs in New York, what it's like being poor immigrant family living in the Projects. and what he described as his dark material, which was actually sex stuff - it wasn't dark but more fun d!ck jokes -. Wil is excitable and animated, so he's a comic with energy, and the jokes comes at you quite quickly and tightly packed - he's like a better Tony Woods -. Even though he is a lot younger than me, him coming from a poor family duplicated experiences I had when I was young - poor now is exactly like it was in the old days -, and that made me relate very closely to his experiences - things like spankings, cheap Xmas presents, etc -. Nothing gets serious and political - that's why I mentioned the Seinfeld connection - it's all the genuinely funny fun stuff. For me he was a excellent 4.25 with a 4.5 in the middle. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.25
24.04.14 : Edition of Erotic Fan : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
It's always worth making an effort to see EFF, even if it's a long shot, but after getting there 40 minutes late - I walked from the Store -, the ticketing already packed up, and the annoying shyness voices telling me to leave, I reluctantly decided to leave.
23.04.14 : Milton Jones(UK) - On the Road : Comedy Store
Milton is one of those one-liners, gags, and puns comic - which is why I liked him -, and to break that up a bit he also adds a dance, a picture slides bit, and some overhead drawn pictures for variety. My only qualm is that the delivery isn't super fast, and that might make a second viewing not as good as this first time viewing. The only sour thing is the venue - I wish they did these shows at the Factory - because they jacked up the parking price this year to $7 - a personal peeve because the cost of travelling, parking, and booking fees suck a large chunk of money -. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
22.04.14 : Kevin Bridges(SCO) - Live : Enmore Theatre
The show was probably good, it's just that my situation wasn't great. Kevin's comedy is everything I like - it was that fun not too serious genuinely funny stuff -, it's just that I was so far back in the balcony, that I might as well have been listening to a radio. Basically, I couldn't hear the words because of his heavy accent - I could hear his Australian accent perfectly - and not being able to see him I couldn't even attempt some form of lip reading. Being removed from the show by distance I had time to think, and that's when I remembered that all my least favourite shows have been from the balcony, which seams to be a sentiment held by others there because you usually see walk-out during the show. The ticket seller told me they were in the front row of the balcony, which is still a good seat, but they were actually way further back, and it's now got to the point that if I can't get a good seat, I'm not going to bother buying tickets any more. Even though I couldn't hear some of the jokes it felt like the show ended too soon - the usual sign that it was good - so I would classify Kevin as a touch down from the 4.5-ers like Danny Bhoy, Jason Byrne, David O'Doherty, etc, but still good enough for a 4. My score reflects the seat position, so add a .25 if you get a good seat. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
22.04.14 : The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Rise of Electro - movie
Action | Adventure : Spider-Man Vs Electro, yada yada yada. You can tell this is PG13 because you need to lower your intelligence level to watch it. Visually it looks quite decent , if you like that over-the-top, video game, CGI, motion stuff, but the story is more the juvenile PG13 illogical stuff. I prefer the more serious adult Tobey Maguire version than this children's version, but if you ignore the bad wise-cracking humour and the illogical praising of Spider-Man in one scene followed but the stupid discrediting of him in the very next, it is watch-able. Another yada yada action film. 2.75
16.04.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Mick Meredith, Madeleine Stewart, Frenchy, Gary Sansome (Scotland). Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
15.04.14 : Divergent - movie
Adventure | Romance | Sci-Fi : In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. It's actually quite and decent movie. People compared it to The Hunger Games, but I found it to be quite different. I found the story for THG to be simplistic and boring, but this was a lot more interesting and compelling. The one thing that annoyed me was that the premises of the film was illogical in the real world. It said that people were separated into factions to keep the peace, when it the real world separating people in to like groups produces animosity and resentment between them. This was shown to be true all the way through the film with racism between the factions. 3.75
11.04.14 : Noah - movie
Action | Adventure | Drama : A man is chosen by his world's creator to undertake a momentous mission to rescue the innocent before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the world. I'm not keen on religious stuff, but this turned out to be something like a fantasy film based on a old story/fairytale - oddly enough it looked more creditable than the original biblical tale because they incorporated science to justify some parts -. It was ok, even thought it runs a bit slow, but when it ran too long, the last ½ hour got tedious. If it ended at the battle it would have been a 3.5. 2.5
10.04.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories about Music : Surry Hills Library
The rain made this a quiet one, which is probably for the best because the die-hard wouldn't have been disappointed that this wasn't the usual comedy writers LOL that is so much fun. For once every one stayed on topic, as opposed to the usual slight mention of the topic in a totally different story, and that was probably due to most being more serious writers.
Vanessa Berry(The novel Ninety9) explained the significance of prized band tee shirt. The Tee shirt becomes a marking that encompasses who you are, and makes you easily recognisable to people with the same likes.
James Colley did his Australian HipHop/being arrested story, with the fact of nearly being arrested giving him more cred that the Elmo hating, weak, Australian rapper, 360.
AH Cayley (Backchat on FBi, Confession Booth) did her story of using music as solace for a failed relationship. She got to the point of ignoring everything, because she thought it was all about the music, but discovered that it was the relationship that held her to the music. When that relationship finally disappeared, the music kind of lost it significance.
Anna Crawford wrote a letter to Morrissey about The Smiths, the band she loved, being bigger than the sum of just his one part. This story was a little too deep and personal for someone on the outside like me, so I found it hard to connect with it all the way through.
Emma Swift read her reply to a request from Dave to sing his songs. Unfortunately Dave's letter basically said that the songs she loves are sh!t, and that she should switch and sing his stuff. This prompted a return letter that was less than polite. and one that became a minor internet sensation.
Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
09.04.14 : LNL @ Newtown: Never Not Funny - Youth Week Special : Newtown Library
Comments heard when leaving "That was so cool", and "That was great". Overall it was quite alright, if a bit short. People tend to faint on this stage - this is the second time -, so it ended a bit short, but if you look at it that I would have liked it to last longer, the fact of wanting more must mean that it was fairly good. What I don't like is slow meandering deliveries, like young comics do to fill time, because it gives the impression of a lack of material, but most of the comics spoke rather fast, especially the host, so it was quite good. Genevieve Fricker (Triple J, FBi) was the main act, and from her new stuff she seamed to have changed into a more edgy serious comic. I quite liked what she did, because it was still comedy and didn't overstep the mark into rhetoric, but next time you see her, expect a change. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
08.04.14 : I, Frankenstein - movie
Action | Fantasy : Frankenstein's creature finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans. I was flipping every second day as to whether it was worth going, but when I saw that crazy trailer the day before, I just had to go. The critics always pan these fantasy re-imagining of old fairytale based movies but I quite like them - all except that crap juvenile Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) -, and this just another that I like. These movies are usually fun but what I find most interesting is how they use the original simplistic story and craft a much larger much more interesting story over the top of it. Fun movie. 3.75
08.04.14 : Captain America - The Winter Soldier - movie
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi : Steve Rogers battles a new threat from old history. These movies have to get more visually interesting because the story doesn't, and that tends to make these movies pass quickly through one ear and out the other. All these superhero action movies are pretty similar with the only difference being how interesting the lead character is, and I would rate Captain America as pretty dull. Ok to watch, but it's basically the same old stuff with bigger explosions. 3.75
07.04.14 : Story Club: What a Way to Make a Living : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Story Club seams to be getting better, but the crowd less so. The crowds are bigger here, but the usual reservedness of outside crowds - which is par for the course out here - is quieter than they should be - would it kill you to laugh -. We are getting new stories, which is always good, but they seam to be of a higher calibre. They thankfully they have fixed most of the sound problem, except for a slight clarity problem probably due to the equipment. This is not a problem, more just a point, as none of the stories were stifled by imperfect sound.
Ben Jenkins (The Checkout) told of his experience with an errant cow, that needed a cow-punch, while filming a bit for The Checkout.
Rachel Corbett (Have You Been Paying Attention) told us of the vomit-fest while filming a piece about Great White Sharks in the open ocean for TV.
Carlo Ritchie (The Bear Pack) did his story about chasing a girl all the way to the Arctic Circle.
Chris Taylor (The Chaser) told of his experience driving the vomit inducing amusement ride the Roto, and how he faked the death of 13 relatives just to get days off.
Dicko (2UE host, former judge of Australian Idol) I used to have a bad impression of Dicko because he was on Idol, but seeing him on Spick-N-Specks, and even more with this appearance, that opinion has been reversed. He told of his experience on Idol, but more the episode where the higher powers of the network started meddling with the show and introduced a wild card into the mix as a mistaken vehicle for more ratings. They introduced the disabled Quentin, and gave him his own show about his appearances on Idol, in a kind-of pre empting of the Susan Boyle moment.
Zoe Norton Lodge (The Checkout) told of her time working in a not for profit theatre company that was run by embezzling drunk that wore a denim winter one piece.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
02.04.14 : Nerd Nite Sydney : Cafe Lounge
I have noticed our host meanders a bit, which was fine the first time, but because I've seen her so many times, and it's a regular occurrence, my tolerance of it has diminished and would like things to get to the crux of the matter quicker. Other than that slight point the night was quite good.
Dr Alice Gorman gave us a history of Australia's part in astronomy and space exploration, ie , rocketry, observatories, our unique perspective of space because of our location, etc
David Murphy gave us a brief insight into graphically representing data as a means of simplifying it for quick assessment.
Prof Geraint Lewis told us how cannibalistic and hungry the universes is. He explained that the juggernaut momentum of a galaxies colliding results in total annihilation of the smaller one, citing the larger galaxy that is going to hit ours, and what the resultant would be, ie, total annihilation.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
Dr Alice Gorman gave us a history of Australia's part in astronomy and space exploration, ie , rocketry, observatories, our unique perspective of space because of our location, etc
David Murphy gave us a brief insight into graphically representing data as a means of simplifying it for quick assessment.
Prof Geraint Lewis told us how cannibalistic and hungry the universes is. He explained that the juggernaut momentum of a galaxies colliding results in total annihilation of the smaller one, citing the larger galaxy that is going to hit ours, and what the resultant would be, ie, total annihilation.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
I usually go to the shows that I have a vague interest in, so as to make up the crowd so we don't lose this free event, but such a large crowd turned up, I could've really skipped this one. Same as usual, ok. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
26.03.14 : Confession Booth #7 : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Not as many laughs as other story based shows, but still just as interesting. Where as Story Club leans more toward the comedy side, Confession Booth leans a bit more toward the serious, even though it could really go either way.
Hosted by A.H. Cayley told of her fear of being embarrassed in public, and it's this fear that makes her do stuff that make every public embarrassment even more embarrassing.
Heidi Pett (Writer, FBi presenter and producer) told about her war with a self inflicted bed bug epidemic.
Jazz Twemlow (The Roast, The Guardian, A Rational Fear) told about a binge drinking blackout episode that had him sifting through a McDonald's bin for his vomit covered jacket just to retrieve his phone.
Gloria Van Vaulker (High-end GFE sex worker) The delivery was less than ideal, which is understandable because she's not a performer, so it was very monotone, and coupled to the fact that she talks so fast - which she warned us about - my hearing damage made it impossible for me to hear that much. From what I could gather, she must have seen a lot of sh!t, because she seams very jaded with life, and I think that made her a bit self-righteous in the process. She gave her experiences as a sex worker, and why she got into it, but it seams that she thinks that her way is the only reason people get into this work. I've talked to a couple of sex workers and strippers, and there seams to be as many reason as there were girls. For Gloria it was all business, but I met a girl in her late 30 that had a relationship go sour after 9 years. She struggled for another 3 years trying to find another guy and got more and more depressed. She finally tried sex work just to be touched, but the thought of men actually choosing her to have sex boosted her self worth, and made her feel wanted. I'm sure she would eventually feel hollow with time, but for now she was a lot happier than before.
Matt Roden co-host : read out the short anomalously written audience confessions that we were asked to fill out at the start.
Sarah Blasko : It was a story about writing this story, and her neurological disorders, but more about leaving things to the last minute, like this story. I usually like stories with more meat, but for a first time listening it was fine. Sarah seams to have as much OCD as me, because it was repeated quite a few times, and it makes me wonder what happened between her early band Acquiesce where she was an extrovert jumping around and handing out chocolates at the album launch, to introverted now.
Brendan Cowell was super funny, and had heaps of embarrassing confessions, it just that none of the embarrassing moments embarrassed him. Very good
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
Hosted by A.H. Cayley told of her fear of being embarrassed in public, and it's this fear that makes her do stuff that make every public embarrassment even more embarrassing.
Heidi Pett (Writer, FBi presenter and producer) told about her war with a self inflicted bed bug epidemic.
Jazz Twemlow (The Roast, The Guardian, A Rational Fear) told about a binge drinking blackout episode that had him sifting through a McDonald's bin for his vomit covered jacket just to retrieve his phone.
Gloria Van Vaulker (High-end GFE sex worker) The delivery was less than ideal, which is understandable because she's not a performer, so it was very monotone, and coupled to the fact that she talks so fast - which she warned us about - my hearing damage made it impossible for me to hear that much. From what I could gather, she must have seen a lot of sh!t, because she seams very jaded with life, and I think that made her a bit self-righteous in the process. She gave her experiences as a sex worker, and why she got into it, but it seams that she thinks that her way is the only reason people get into this work. I've talked to a couple of sex workers and strippers, and there seams to be as many reason as there were girls. For Gloria it was all business, but I met a girl in her late 30 that had a relationship go sour after 9 years. She struggled for another 3 years trying to find another guy and got more and more depressed. She finally tried sex work just to be touched, but the thought of men actually choosing her to have sex boosted her self worth, and made her feel wanted. I'm sure she would eventually feel hollow with time, but for now she was a lot happier than before.
Matt Roden co-host : read out the short anomalously written audience confessions that we were asked to fill out at the start.
Sarah Blasko : It was a story about writing this story, and her neurological disorders, but more about leaving things to the last minute, like this story. I usually like stories with more meat, but for a first time listening it was fine. Sarah seams to have as much OCD as me, because it was repeated quite a few times, and it makes me wonder what happened between her early band Acquiesce where she was an extrovert jumping around and handing out chocolates at the album launch, to introverted now.
Brendan Cowell was super funny, and had heaps of embarrassing confessions, it just that none of the embarrassing moments embarrassed him. Very good
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
25.03.14 : Ride Along - movie
Action | Comedy : Fast-talking security guard joins his cop brother-in-law James on a 24-hour patrol. The main comedy vehicle for this film is the fast-talking sidekick, with the unfortunate thing being that he's not funny all the time, and it's the not funny all the time that sums up the film. OK film with some laughs but probably closer to a time filler. 3
25.03.14 : Need for Speed - movie
Action | Crime | Drama : A more realistic version of Fast and Furious. FF is a BS boy racer film with unrealistic CGI driving. NOS is a more serious realistic film with real driving stunts. Good points are:- some nice cinematography with good panoramic shots, more professionally done, more realistic. Bad points:- even though it's a touch better than FF the story is still fairly simple, the third element of Michael Keaton is a bit annoying, and it's a touch too long. Better than FF, because there's less BS, but ultimately only slightly better. OK 3
19.03.14 : The Bear Pack #2 : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
The Pitch : The Pitches were for Animated Tattoos, Buttons, and the video game Escape From Frog Island.
The original Theatresport game this is based on wasn't a guarantee of laughs, even with a team of players, and even with the constantly changing stimulus it's basically one player with no safety net, except how quick they can think, and that makes it more susceptible to hit or miss. For me one was good, with the other two not being super strong. It's not they they were bad, it's just that I've seen so much it's not super funny for me. Thankfully they went the comics code of keeping it short if it's not super, so it didn't end up as bad, and in reality I don't think the crowd really noticed anyhow.
The Bear Pack : A hidden squad of 6 killer cows is hunted down by cow Number 2, gaining their powers as he kills them. Unfortunately it's now got to the stage that I've seen so many of these, and the fact that there is only 2 people in it, that there is nothing that they can do that will surprise me any more, and that in turn makes my opinion on what I felt of no consequence. The crowd seamed to like it.
Crowd : 4 - Me : na
12.04.14 : LNL @ Newtown: She Was Probably Not a Robot : Newtown Library
She Was Probably Not A Robot is a lo-fi, DIY, off-beat, sci-fi, storytelling experience; a surreal, soulful comedy about a decomposing world and a cosmic visitor. It's one of those sweet, little, mildly amusing, one man, play/story shows. The crowd seemed to like it, but for me it's wasn't super funny, except for the few small audience ad-lib bits, but it's fine. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
11.03.14 : 300 - Rise of an Empire - movie
Action | Drama : Both 300 movies run a concurrent time period with the first being a battle in this much larger story. This movie is larger and more epic, with more story and a lot more CGI, but what it doesn't have is Gerard Butler and that fantastic over acting. I can't say it's as good as the first 300, but it's still an ok movie. 3.5
11.03.14 : Vampire Academy - Blood Sisters - movie
Fantasy | Action | Mystery : Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. I thought this was going to be some teen, bimbo, vampire flick, but it was this complicated, technical, fantasy story, delivered with fast talking gobbledygook. There was so much to figure out in such a short time, that I was lost for most of it - I really needed a play-card to keep track -. It looked ok, but because I had trouble following what was going on, and couldn't recognise who was who because I had Prosopagnosia with the faces - every boy student looked the same to me -, I don't really know what to think. Probably only for young people with quick minds. 2.5
08.04.14 : Parallelogramophonograph(USA) - French Farce with FBCNLTennis! : Roxbury Hotel
FBCNLTennis - The Conversation - two people having a conversation punctuated by the cast doing little improvised scenes based on what was said -. I was dreading the next hour when they told us they were going to do "The Conversation" - I hate it -, but now I find out that's because I have never seen a good one until tonight. This one only had one small dead spot, but for the most part it had weirdness, craziness, and the unexpected, basically all the things that make you laugh. Good
Parallelogramophonograph's - French Farce : This review is pretty much what happened “It’s a testament to their commitment to the craft and their comfort on stage that they managed to sustain a rapt audience through laugh-free periods. You know, like good theatre tends to do.” It's long form that is very conventional in story and execution, basically it's light on laughs, but not boring in the bits in between. There is nothing too weird, wild, crazy, or surprising about the way they do stuff, and that is why it's not super funny. It's probably intended to be that way, like Bard to the Bone was more actual Shakespeare play than comedy. To give you an example, their slap-stick involves actually slapping each other in the face, while our idea of slap-stick is an actual punch in the d!ck. It was alright, but I did miss the lack of actual laughs.
Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
07.03.14 : 3 Days to Kill - movie
Action | Crime | Drama : An old CIA is agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug on his last assignment. I sum up Foreign (European) films as, interesting, a little bit quirky, but amateurish looking - it's usually the style of acting -. This American/French film was,. interesting, quirky, but done in that American style that makes it look professional. This film is basically action, with ironic comedy filling the gaps - asking the victim for parental advice while torturing them -, and coupled with that Hollywood realistic/serious style, it a winner in my book. Maybe a touch long, but I liked it a lot. 3.75
06.03.14 : LNL @ Surry Hills: Stories about Religion : Surry Hills Library
I think the religious theme may have put uninitiated off - only half of the tickets were taken -, but that was inconsequential because the regulars knew the trick and filled the room anyhow. I fell for the trick last year when didn't go to the ones with boring titles, ie, religion, travel, but what you discover after seeing a lot of these is that the theme is a ruse. The theme could be a main part of the story - that doesn't happen often -, it could be a part that is not excepted - more common - like Love Stories had love for inanimate objects like jackets and cars, or it could have a small cursory mention to fill the criteria - more common - in stories that have nothing to do with the theme. Case in point was Eddie Sharp's Erotic Fan Fiction story about Mel Gibson having sex with Woody Allan, with the only link to religion being that Mel was calling Woody a Jew. Another story was about the storytellers mother being very religious, but after realising God was a d!ck, became very anti religious. I was interesting how she analysed God's behaviour form a Psychiatrist's perspective, and analysed him as a narcissistic, self centred, prick. Lewis Hobba told of the miss fortunes of growing up in a hippy household, and his cruel sisters, with the link being that the family were very anti religious. The last storyteller told a kind-of a love story, and was about how she got married in the US to her girlfriend 5 minutes after the gay marriage bill was passed in the US senate. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
05.03.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Luke Heggie, Jeremy Keast, MC Amanda Gray. Unfortunately no one brought their A game. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
04.03.14 : Lone Survivor - movie
Action | Biography | Drama : Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a critical mission. I know it's based on a true story, but that movie looked like BS because of the basic illogical things that happened. It's a bit like Gravity, looks great to the uninitiated, but seems illogical if you think about it. I just couldn't fathom why professional soldiers didn't have a contingency plan if they were spotted by civilians. I hated it, to me it looked like a bunch of arrogant US Navy SEALs making mistakes and getting in trouble. I just can't understand why they didn't go with option 4, walk them out for 3 hours, and releasing them, thereby giving themselves a 6 hours head start. This film looked more like a North Korean propaganda film showing soldiers doing ridiculous feats of strength to prove their army is superior. 1
04.03.14 : Non-Stop - movie
Action | Mystery | Thriller : An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages that put his fellow passengers at risk. The premise of a criminal committing a crime in a location where they are trapped, seems dumb, but like The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009), this ended up quite an entertaining film. Intelligently thought out, so you aren't thinking this is BS all the time, and entertaining throughout. 3.75
04.03.14 : Endless Love - movie
Drama | Romance : The story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy whose instant desire sparks a love affair. It's very formulaic - after seeing 100's of these movies they all seam formulaic -, but this so much a love story, as a father being a d!ck story, and it's the consistent grind of conflict that sucks and niceties out of this film. 1.5
03.03.14 : Story Club - When We Were Young : The Giant Dwarf Theatre
Unfortunately a sound problem with the new mic killed one story and detracted from 2 others, but that might have only been a problem for people with hearing damage like me.
Ben Jenkins (The Hamster Decides (& Wheel) The Checkout) re embellished his disastrous Prom Night Date - insert Aust equivalent - to make the story even better.
Alex Lee (News 24's Favourite Comedian/Journalist) did the story about her parents showing massive favouritism to their new baby male child, and ignoring all their female kids from then on - and they say parents don't have favourites -.
This one had the most sound problems because it was soft and distorted - soft is fine, as I have sensitive hearing, but distorted makes the words muddy for me -. I would miss a word, and while I was trying to work it out from the rest of the sentence, I would miss the whole next sentence, and that had me lost quite often. Even though I struggled the rest of the crowd were laughing, so it probably didn't effect them entirely.
Rob Carlton (Logie Winner, Comedian, Nicest Man on Earth) had a family reunion turning into 1st cousin sex.
This one was loud enough, but because the sound was flat and had no fidelity - the top end frequency's were missing - it reduced the gravitas of the performance because it sounded monotonous and dull.
David Cunningham (Historian, Comedian, Count Snackula) did a Caligulian epic of masturbatory delights in his cuming of age masterpiece that had a Rosetta Stone importance in understanding the physic of the man who would be king of British Naval Officers who are also members of Parliament. No problems with this one, it was excellent.
Kirsten Drysdale (The Checkout, Hungry Beast) did her hockey story where she had to pee in a cup at a random drug test.
Zoe Norton Lodge (Writer, The Checkout) told her famous story of climbing the corporate ladder by force, by becoming the wheeler and dealer Wolf of PreSchool.
Sound problems were low fidelity and not loud enough, and even though the story is good enough on it's own, Zoe's dramatic delivery that takes it into the stratosphere, was reduced. Crowd seemed largely unaffected.
The crowd fluctuated between 4 and 5 so 4.5. For me it was a minor annoyance, only because I knew it would have been better - like the 1st time I heard them - if the sound was perfect. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : na
I usually don't laugh that much any more, especially at Impro, but this semi "old time" Impro was surprisingly good, and with genuine big laughs.
Blank the Musical : I was looking froward to good "old time" Impro with big laughs, but on the drive down I remembered that I'm not a big fan of Blank - only a couple of shows have been killer, and they were with Buckers -, and that the cast might not be the "in form" talent that I was expecting - they haven't done this for 2 years, so they might be out practice -. Thankfully all those fears were misplaced, because Pro players turned up and all in top form, and with such high end Impro, it was all super funny - Jon Williams had me seeing spots with his over-the-top South African sadist -.
Bard to the Bone : I wasn't impressed with Bard to the Bone last time I saw them because they went for a long form version that was true to Shakespeare, that was so prim and proper, it barely had any comedy at all. This time they went with the short form games version, and all of it was high end comedy with big laughs. Lady Fingers : Was mild in the laugh dept, but was fine.
A really good Saturday night, that was a big lift for my flagging moral. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4.25
27.02.14 : Monkey Business feat. Kitty Flanagan : Syd Uni
It looked good on paper, with Kitty Flanagan + Glenn Wool + Susie Youssef + James Colley and Sarah Gaul, but when I got there, I felt out of place being so old in such young crowd. I headed to Rock Lily's Rock With Laughter at the Casino, and got half way, when I decided the 45 minute walk back to the car after midnight at the end wasn't worth it, and went home.
26.02.14 : The Bear Pack #1 @ The Chaser : The Giant Dwarf Theatre(The Cleveland Street Theatre)
The Pitch : Carlo Ritchie gave us a brilliant sample last week of "The Pitch" - random unseen images are projected behind the player and he has to fabricate an improvised sales pitch -, this week was the full show. The Bear Pack only runs for 1 hour so they need quality first half filler - the higher end venue requires higher quality more consistent performances -, so they went with experienced players for "The Pitch". "The Pitch" is one of the more difficult things in Impro because it's one person doing 15 minutes of solo improvising, but thankfully with the players experience, it wasn't a problem. Patrick Magee was good at selling abstract "Dream Spoons", Edan Lacey's post apocalyptic Jamaica movie called Birthday Assassins 2 was nice, and Luke Ryan & Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd ended on high with a funny Swimming Safety talk. For me the first half was good, just not super big belly laughs, but for the audience, they liked it a lot.
The Bear Pack (Supermarket, Hydrangea): A principal is scolding a boy who has to explain why he has a packet of Salt'n'Vinigar chips in his pocket. He explained that his Pop made a deal with the devil, that as long as the pack is unopened, his friend would be given the ability to play pipes in his 2 man pipe band. I've seem lots of these, so it was in the good area again, but the audience loved it - I heard good compliments in conversations on the way out. Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4
25.02.14 : Last Vegas - movie
Comedy : Three sixty-something friends throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal. I was hoping it wasn't going to be as clichéd and predictable as it seamed to be, like Parental Guidance was, but it was. I'm going to know more gags than most, so for me it was lots of old gags that pass the time with enough mild humour to be ok. 2.5
20.02.14 : Erotic Fan Fiction : Giant Dwarf Theatre(The Cleveland Street Theatre)
It's a bit weird when you analyse the sudden boom in popularity of this type of comedic creative writing. This style of storytelling has been around with Story Club, and the later LNL, for quite a few years, yet with all the Facebook social advertising the audiences weren't as big as they are now. Things suddenly came alive when it was put front of it's demographic at last years Sydney Writers Festival, and soon after it out grew it's new home at the Ravel, and then taxed the much larger venue it's now at. It has taken a year, and a larger venue, before I was able to get a ticket at the door - I'm not up with online purchases -, so you don't need me to tell you that this, and Story Club, is a hot ticket. I think I have heard some of these stories before, but thankfully my memory is so bad I don't remember that much, so that didn't detract from it what so ever. Overall everything was good, like these nights always are, but because we had such a large, non reserved in their reactions, crowd, the extra laughs added a laugh track that made it exceptionally good. We started with host Eddie Sharp's surreal, but crazy good, Nigella Lawson Erotic Fan Fiction. We didn't really need Tim Rogers (You Am I) to read Marieke Hardy’s Charlotte's Web EFF, because it's written so well, but we were glad he did because he added even more. And Nina Las Vegas (JJJ, Heaps Decent) Richard Roxburgh rendezvous story was nice. Carlo Ritchie punctuated the half's with his crazy funny "The Pitch" - random unseen images are projected on a screen and the player has to fabricate an improvised pitch -. He pitched a government initiative to inform the people into accepting our robot overlords, and along with being super clever in making up this pretend spiel on the fly, he also did a clever thing by continuing to talk while clicking the next slide, and this made the audience laugh even more at the thought of how he was going to make this totally unrelated new picture fit in with his theme. Susie Youssef (Improv Champ) did a clever The Breakfast Club EFF, clever because it starts without telling you it's based on the movie, so you have to work it out mentally - luckily I remembered enough about this, once seen, 29 year old film -. The stand-out was Andrew O'Keefe (Deal or No Deal) excellent reading of another Marieke Hardy’s Erotic Fan Fiction about Vladimir Putin. What this group of young people probably don't know, even though he hints it on his TV show, is that Andrew is a champion improviser. His brilliant hosting of the Viking series of impro at the Belvoir a decade ago was so popular, that he practically hosted the whole series. And it was these impro skills allowed him to make the characters come alive complete with accents. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4.5
18.02.14 : Winter's Tale - movie
Drama | Fantasy | Romance : A burglar falls for an heiress. It's a weird conglomeration of reality and fantasy. The problem I had was that the small fantasy bits were surrounded by so much realistic non-fiction, that it was hard to accept it - I had to tell myself to accept the weirdness -. The end is ok, because it switches to all fantasy, but other than that it's a bit unconvincing, and a bit simplistic in the fantasy, so I'll classify it as a semi interesting time-passer. 3
18.02.14 : Are We Officially Dating? - movie
Comedy | Romance : Three best friends find themselves where we've all been - at that confusing moment in every dating relationship when you have to decide "So...where is this going?". There isn't enough Rom, and there isn't enough Com, so you never feel any of the emotion that you need to love this film. I also found the storytelling a little disjointed, but that might just be me. It's fine, just nothing outstanding. 3.25
12.02.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
MC Sally Kimpton was good, Alistair Bates was depressingly good, Evan Desmarais (CAN) had a some small bits that didn't make sense from a comedy stand point, but overall he was still good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
11.02.14 : RoboCop - movie
Action | Crime | Sci-Fi : A robot cop. They tried to make a serious version of Robocop, which is ridiculous because the premise is basically a fantasy, and that sucked all the fun out of it. No surprises, dull, slow, and the rare bits of action are the usual "run of the mill" standard video game footage. Watchable, but nothing more. 2.5
06.02.14 : Late Night Library -Stories About Love : Surry Hills Library
Tonight it was stories about love, but as we were to find out, that could include anything. One was love for a girl, as you would expect, but one was about love for a jacket, and another was about love of a car. Three stories I liked a lot, because they were funny, and written so my simple brain could readily understand, but two went over my head. One was for high-end intellectuals, and one was a concept of feelings, which my monkey brain doesn't get, so that lowered my score somewhat. Still good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
04.02.14 : Grudge Match - movie
Comedy : A pair of ageing boxing rivals are coaxed out of retirement. On the outside it looks formulaic and simple, but as long as it's fun, which this one was, it's not a deal breaker. It had laughs and was fun, and I quite like it. 3.75
01.02.14 : Sydney's Paddy's Markets - Sat 2nd hand junk markets : Flemington
Even though I'm here nearly every second week, I will put this report in in-case people are looking for cheap stuff. It's pretty similar to Trash & Treasure, in fact a lot of sellers do both. It is mainly second hand stuff, with about 65% hard stuff ranging from fridges to nail files, and about 35% soft stuff like clothing. What it has over T & T is that it's free, parking is above the actual market - it's in the Lidcome end car park -, it's always under cover so it doesn't suffer sellers not turning up when it rains like at T & T. It is smaller than T & T, but with T & T's reduced sellers lately it's really not far apart, and there is a free growers markets in the next building.
30.01.14 : Jack Druce & Jennifer Wong Comedy Festival Trial Shows in Sydney : Hive Bar
It's only after this show got cancelled - the 6:00 o'clock start is probably a deal breaker - that it jogged my memory that the last time they tried a trial here it also got cancelled. I didn't fall for it last time, because I followed my rule of not going to trials - I find proper shows tiresome yet alone unorganised trials -, but this time I walked straight into this one because I was bored, and it was free. na
29.01.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
It was odd that the crowd was so small - I thought most would be back from holidays - but at least they were an understanding crowd. It was a pretty good night with pro Jacques Barrett(MC), new for me OS comic Bryan O'Gorman (CANADA: National Lampoon, Vans Warped Tour), and others. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
28.01.14 : Her - movie
Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi : Slightly in the future people talk at machines to get them to do everyday tasks, but a new intuitive, intelligent, operating system is able to talk back. It's one of those lonely middle aged guy stories - but it's not a downer - with a sciencey twist. It's something different - new is good -, and the only fault I could find is that it probably doesn't travel fast enough for a younger audience - it wasn't a problem for me because I'm old and can relate to it -. I liked it, and personally would give it a 4, but for others, the pace might indicate a 3.75
22.01.14 : LNL @ Sydney Festival Village - Campfire Collective - Comedy : Hyde Park
Featuring Nick Capper, Smart Casual, Cameron James, Jared Jekyll, Phil Spencer & Richie Cuthbert. There were regulars, but because everyone did something new it was quite enjoyable. There was musical comedy, duo comedy teams, standup, storytelling, and a song. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
21.01.14 : 47 Ronin - movie
Action | Adventure | Fantasy : A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonour of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun. I found it travelled too slow to be good, especially in the first half, but it did pick up enough in the second to be ok. Some people clapped at the end, so maybe they though it was good. 3.25
21.01.14 : Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - movie
Action | Mystery | Thriller : Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack. I found boring, predictable, and clichéd, it was nothing I haven't seen before. They went for intrigue over action, and because the intrigue wasn't that good it just slowed down a movie that didn't have that much action in the first place. Other people will probably like it, but I didn't. 2.5
20.01.14 : The Comedy Lounge with Daniel Townes, Pat Burtscher and friends! : Cafe Lounge
I only really went because of overseas comic Pat Burtscher(CAN), and even though I would have preferred him doing one large headline set - he has enough material -, instead of MC duties, there was still lots of material to make the judgement that he is good, and a little wacky in his everyday logic - I wish we had Pat instead of Tom Agna at Oatley last week, because he's good with the crowd, and funnier -. The Cafe Lounge is always testing - I would have thought it would have lost it's popularity by now and not been so crowded -, but it was packed, hot, sweaty, long, and a endurance test if you can't get there early enough to get a seat. I only lasted 2 brackets, because of a sore back and it was already 10:00 o'clock, but comics that I saw were young stand-ups, with 3 being rather good, and 3 not - they weren't annoying bad just not funny enough -. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
19.01.14 : Automotive and Performance Swap Meet : Sydney Dragway
Mainly serious performance car parts that aren't current, complete racing cars, and some old collector car parts. All hard stuff.
19.01.14 : Trash & Treasure : Horningsea Park
On the good days, this is the biggest repository of second hand junk. About 70% "hard" junk, of which 25% is new stuff, and about 30% "soft" junk of the cloths, fruit, and plant variety. Things to look for are rainy days - don't go if there is a hint of rain because sellers don't turn up due to no undercover shelter -, Xmas break - people are on holidays so sellers don't turn up -, and non regular sellers - I bought computer monitors from a one-timer for $5 each and none worked - It doesn't happen often but these sellers are always at the back next to the fence. Sunday 8:00am open, 1895 Remembrance Driveway, Horningsea Park NSW 2170
19.01.14 : Liverpool Markets : Liverpool
Like Flemington Markets but smaller.
16.01.14 : Late Night Library -What's Yo Fantasy : Hyde Park
It was LNL storytelling with 1 erotic love story, 1 Halloween tale, 1 lecture about the history of a long lost (made up) Sci Fi television show that went over many peoples heads because they thought it was real, and 1 Lord Of The Rings Erotic Fan Fiction with the rude words replaced by non offensive works but then translated on held up cards. Good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
12.01.14 : Mug and Kettle Comedy-Summer Series 7: Bloomin' Comedy At The Rose: The Rose Hotel
I was hoping Ray Badran would headline but he only MC'd, so he didn't do much material, and coupled to repeats from last week and no high end comedy, I left by half time. The crowd weren't laughing that much, but they didn't seam to mind. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : na
12.01.14 : North Rocks Computer Market : Muirfield High School
Computer fairs have died off because you can buy new stuff cheaper in some established shops any day of the a week. This is the only one left, and is struggling, but it has a second hand section, with warranty, that still makes it worth while. Some of the old stuff is too old, so it's more for the tinkers, but some specials are Centrino laptops $50, Core 2 Duo laps $100, i5 laps $250. Nearly every Sunday. https://www.facebook.com/NorthRocksMarkets/
09.01.14 : The Junkyard : Londonderry
The Junkyard is located at 11 Bennett Rd Londonderry NSW. Open 7 days 10am – 4pm, (02) 4572 5211.
08.01.14 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Overseas acts are usually always worth seeing, but Tom Agna is so low key it probably wasn't worth it. I have seen him before, and he was the same back then, it's just that I forget who he was and miss-took him for someone else - ironic considering this blog is only here to remind me -. MC Alex Wasiel continues to disappoint, mainly because I've seen her when she was blisteringly good, and it's the long sets where the lack of material is spread out that she looses all her energy. The 2 support acts where good, with Simon Taylor killing it. If the line up was reversed it would have been good, because it would have ended on a high. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.25
07.01.14 : The Salvos Warehouse : Michinbury
Same as Tempe. Like Tempe, the weird thing is the carpark is full of expensive cars, there was only 2 old cars, and one was mine. Maybe being a tight-arse is the trick to getting rich.
06.01.14 : Used Building Materials : St Peters
06.01.14 : The Salvos Warehouse : Tempe
Never been to one, so I stopped in at this nearby warehouse. Mainly "soft" junk, cloths, books, furniture, etc with about 10% "hard" junk, appliances, bicycles, etc
05.01.14 : Mug and Kettle Comedy-Summer Series 6: The Crate-est Show on Earth! : The Record Crate
Some of the comedy with the younger comics can be a bit sketchy, but the first half of this one was pretty decent - it was more conventional comedy -. The second half was alternative comedy so it was hit and miss random. First half 3.5. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
