0-Die Bastard : 1-Crap : 2-Rubbish(watchable) : 3-OK : 3.5-Nice : 4-Good : 4.5-Very Good : 5-WOW
28.12.17 : Star Wars: The Last Jedi - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for battle with the First Order. Lucas made mistakes, but never in basic 101 film making. It was like the director didn't know what he was doing i.e. weak dialogue when it should have been strong and memorable, atrociously lame comedy in a deathly serious scene, illogical stuff. Not a POS like the last one, but a dummy like me with no experience could have made it better. 3
21.12.17 : King Baby's Respectful Christmas Jamboree : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Respectful, as in murdering babies and Mary and Joseph, spitting on people, and a crate with a penis. It was mayhem, just like what you would expect from the old Project 52 days. Tom Ballard turned up, and was a good sport, but he couldn't ad-lib anything because it was so crazy, i.e. a naked man with a box on his head flailing his d!ck. No one was disappointed, and I even saw spots from lack of oxygen. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
20.12.17 : Dragon Friends - A Merry Very Yulemas : Giant Dwarf Theatre
The one-offs are never brilliant, but this one was less thought out than last year. Basically only one interesting happened in the first 1 hour, then there was mucking around at the start of the second that was funny, and then it lulled until the forced rushed end where all the rules got pushed aside to make the finish. It really needed to be forced at the start so that you could have funny mucking around in the middle, and that would allow you the correct timing the ending properly. You could tell it wasn't perfect because the crowd was enthusiastic and loud at the start, but the applause at the end was not to the same level. It was about halfway through the first half I noticed the crowd was pretty quiet, and even thought it somewhat recovered in the second half it was too late for me and I didn't recover. The fanboys probably didn't mind, but I'm only interested in the entertainment side. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.25
19.12.17 : The Thousand Faces of Dunjia - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : A group of misfit fighters with supernatural abilities battle an ancient evil bent on destroying mankind. It's in that style of extreme fantasy that the Asians do. I didn't mind it, but for most part it didn't entirely grab me like crazy films do - it could just be me being very tired from lack of sleep -. From the end I gathered this is some sort of trilogy, so there will probably be more. 3
16.12.18 : ITS Ensemble End of Year Blowout Sale! : Giant Dwarf Theatre
It's like no one knew the etiquette of Impro, i.e. you come in to supplement a scene, especially when it's not doing well, not barge in and talk over the top of it with nothing that helps just for the sake of doing so. Basically less is more, because too much destroys. Sure everyone had confidence to stand up, but no one had the skill to add to anything. One scene by the pros was good because they let the few player run with it so they could make a coherent story, but all the rest were people barging in with nothing just for the sake of themselves being on stage. No one had a chance to do anything because everybody was jumping in, making it a very disjointed muddled mess. I don't know what the crowd thought because I couldn't follow what was going on and left.
15.12.17 : Sara Pascoe(UK) - Lads Lads Lads : The Comedy Store
I found the 3 big name UK comics in the SCF were a disappointing, but this thankfully Sara wasn't. There was only about 5 min of material I had heard before, which was good, it's just that I was flustered and hot running from Central Station to make this in time. Good. Crowd : 4 - Me : na
04.12.17 : Story Club - The Snowball Effect : Giant Dwarf Theatre
We had a new host that I haven't see before, someone called Alex Lee, lol - she changed to a new cutesy look that made her unrecognisable -. This was like the extremely clever writing edition, which was really good, and what made it better was the crowd reacted with the correct applause proportional to the cleverness of the stories, for a change.
Alex Lee - Getting a wedding dress.
Ashley Kalagian Blunt - Conquering a new year, by conquering Tasmania's Cradle mountain.
Simon Greiner - Signs that Simon has become an adult.
Jess Tuckwell - Getting a bladder infection in sunny Italy.
Ben Jenkins - watching a skinny youth eat 50 oysters in a bar in N.Y.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Quitting screaming at people when they do something wrong made her realise how good screaming is.
Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.25
01.12.17 : The Legend of Zelda - Pub Crawl : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I took a risk because I didn't know what the show was about, and for most of it I didn't understand what was going on. It was a long time before I remembered watching a small bit of these guys playing a game online and acting weird, like they were drunk, and that's when I knew what it was about. It's basically getting drunk playing a game with friends and making comments about it. This one wasn't as good as the online one because it was only one player, rather than the two mucking around in the other. This one also had a lot of traversing terrain without doing much, which wasn't that interesting, with a big battle at the end. I think to make this more entertaining someone has to research the high lights of the game so they can directly go to each one, keeping the energy high with action, and making sure it's two player. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : na
22.11.17 : Daddy's Home 2 - movie
Comedy : Having finally gotten used to each other's existence, Brad and Dusty must now deal with their intrusive fathers during the holidays. Before seeing the first one I thought the premise was a bit weak, but thankfully it turned out to be an ok film. What I wasn't keen on was the story continuing in a sequel, but thankfully they made the story different enough that it was ok too. Probably needs tightening around 3/4 distance, but it passes quick enough. 3
21.11.17 : Merrick Watts feat. Lawrence Mooney & Becky Lucas - Picture: Discuss : The Comedy Store
Merrick Watts, Lawrence Mooney and Becky Lucas ( three loose units!) discuss and improvise their way around a set of pictures, who along with the audience are seeing for the first time.
It was a waste of time because I couldn't hear or see. Maybe a better setup venue would have fixed it, but it was too loud so the voices were muffled, and no one seems to have checked the projector with the stage lights on because it bleached the pictures so you couldn't see details. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 2
16.11.17 : Justice League - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : Characters with new and interesting stories in a similar type of movie, - new is good -, but for some reason they added an annoying Jewish boy. Being Jewish adds nothing, so I don't know why it's there, except that it warns you there will be lame out of date comedy. It's fine, but it could use a professional comedy writer. 3.5
14.11.17 : Nailed It! : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I went to the first one and it was ok - it's not my favourite -, but I got bored and went and it was ok. I think there was only one or maybe two that were political, ie not that funny, but the rest were pretty much comedy first message second, if they had a message. There was an hilarious anti sex talk, a funny one finding out if women or Asians are more oppressed, Miranda Kerr's poo makes you skinny, etc. I noticed the crowd was a bit dead so I was laughing loudly in the first half on purpose - if you supply a laugh track more people laugh -, but I don't know if it was annoying because people moved seats so I keep quite in the second half. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
09.11.17 : Sam Simmons A-K. : Giant Dwarf Theatre
You have to be in the right frame of mind or you won't get this niche comedy. I first saw him do a few short routines on TV and found his quirky comedy quite good, but because I didn't know what he was about when I went to see him live at the SOH, I didn't find it that funny. Since then I've been watching 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown and find him totally hilarious, so I thought I would give it another try now knowing what was going on. Knowing what to expect was the ticket, because I found him quite funny this time. The one at the SOH was probably a better show, not that I knew at the time, because it used clever/weird set routines with drawings etc, like he did on Cats Does Countdown, where as this one is more crude, ie disgusting toilet humour. This is a written new show, but because he was trialling it we got everything, even the bits that will be cut out for the finished show. Basically 80% is good. so you will just have to wait out the short bits that aren't super. It kind-of goes 3.75 to 4 then tapering to 3.5 for the extra 15 minutes you get at the end. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
07.11.17 : The Foreigner - movie
Action, Drama, Thriller : A humble businessman seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. At times you wonder why Jackie Chan is even in the film because most of it is a Pierce Brosnan political thriller. Gritty political drama with some serious action fighting scenes. Good, just not exactly what I was expecting. 3.5
06.11.17 : Story Club - But At What Cost? : Giant Dwarf Theatre
It was a small one, and the crowd were unresponsive again - they did applaud properly only at the end -, but it was nice enough.
Ben Jenkins - High on D&D, and other substances.
Matt Roden - Moving to London with his girlfriend, and subsequently breaking up.
Nikki Britton - Anorexia causes inflammation of the brain encephalitis.
Melina Wicks - Discovering your parents are the biggest tight-arses in the world.
Sally Rugg - Fighting for the Yes vote for the same-sex marriage plebiscite finally gets to her.
James Valentine - How being a reviewer will kill your enthusiasm for that medium.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
06.11.17 : Three Summers - movie
RomCom : The same people bump into each other three years in a row at a folk festival. Super nice, clever in story and comedy, and quite funny. Absolutely delightfully good. 3.75
04.11.17 : Snowed In Comedy Tour : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Dan Quinn, Pete Zedlacher
2 new OS comics with all new jokes, what's not to like. I was a bit worried what the show was about, because the ad didn't say much except that they were award winning comics, but thankfully it was straight standup. And good standup. Good night out. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
02.11.17 : Erotic Fan Fiction : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Eddie Sharp - Bindi Irwin.
James Colley - Babe sex romp.
Alex Lee - Political thing.
Nick Sun - Trump and Putin love affair.
Jordan Raskopoulos - Some boy with a horse in a swap thing, maybe The NeverEnding Story.
You lose the subtleties of the jokes when you don't know the story it's based on, which for me was three of them, and Nick's was delivered in fast machine gun style that I missed the first part of most sentences. The sex thing has worn off on me, and I was lost in places tonight, but everyone else seemed to like it. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
02.11.17 : Bad Moms 2 - movie
Action, Adventure, Comedy : A Bad Moms Christmas follows our three under-appreciated and over-burdened women as they rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for moms: Christmas. Ups and downs, but it fills the time. There are a few things that are annoying, like a character so over the top in their logic that they are ridiculous, but at least it wasn't a bomb like 98% of all sequels. Ok 2.75
31.10.17 : Never Say Die - movie
Comedy, Fantasy : A male UFC boxer switches bodies with the female reporter. Now I know why this is killing it in China, it's quite funny. Asian comedy is mainly slap-stick based, but this is a higher level of clever subtle comedy. It does push the believability factor in the first half, which is understandable when the body swaps is so far apart, but you quickly learn to go with the flow. Surprisingly good. 3.75
26.10.17 : Thor - Ragnarok - movie
Action, Adventure, Comedy : Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest with the all-powerful Hela. I was wondering why the comedy was at such a high level, ie intelligent and professional, and then I find out it was done by that New Zealand guy that did those great NZ comedies, Taika Waititi. The movie has a lot stuff, but it the comedy that sets a new standard for comedy in an action film. It's what Guardians of the Galaxy tries to be, but can't deliver. 4
25.10.17 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
The MC made everyone cheer so loudly when he introduced the comics I couldn't hear their names to confirm them.
Dane Baptiste (UK)
Becky Lucas
Ben Lomas
Special international guest
Frida Deguise
Ben Russell
I don't know why I go to these as I don't laugh that much, I guess it's to see someone new, ie OS comics, that might have something different from the constant locals that I have seen 100s of times. Finally an OS comic that I find funny. Dane doesn't do that serious comedy that I don't find funny, more the superfluous non serious stuff that is genuinely funny. The others were either repeats or not particularly funny. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
23.10.17 : Home Again - movie
Comedy, Drama, Romance : Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her. A super cute/attractive looking film. The first half was fairly non exciting "everyday" in what happens, but things get more dramatic latter. It's a nice enough film. 3.5
19.10.17 : Geostorm - movie
Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller : A network of satellites designed to control the global climate start to attack Earth. Like all action films it's not perfect, but like most action films it is entertaining. Not as much geostorm CGI as you would think, but a lot more space CGI than you would expect, so it averaged out. Started at 3.25 and finished at 3.75. 3.5 avg.
17.10.17 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
Tiff Stevenson (UK)
Sam Campbell
Ben Darsow
Mike Goldstein (USA)
Gearard McGeown
Bart Freebairn
Tiff is a political comic - not my favourite subject - , which is odd because they are usually young comics from New York, and Mike what you would expect, but it was Sam Campbell that was the only one I found funny.
Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
16.10.17 : The Popular Experiment with Rove McManus : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I had a feeling it would be mild, and that's exactly what it was like. The format is like Carlo Ritchie's Big Head Mode, ie random jumps to different topics, but instead of computer games, which there was one, it's random popular culture items. Not many laughs, and certainly no big laughs, which didn't bother the mainly Rove fan base, but it was nice enough. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
12.10.17 : The Mountain Between Us - movie
Action, Adventure, Drama : Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must survive the extreme elements of a remote snow covered mountain. I don't know if the book was that bad or the movie stuffed up, but there was so many illogical things that the movie lost creditability. More a TV grade movie. 2
10.10.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I think they went too big in this final, because I don't see any subsequent finials having so many twist, turns, and shenanigans. Pretty full on. Crowd : 5 - Me : 4.25
09.10.17 : Story Club - Duck and Cover : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I wanted to skip this one, but the Cunningham and Bain laugh factor made me go. Cait did a wonderful job geeing up the crowd by making them move with audience participation - I don't mind it so long as I don't have to participate with strangers -. You used to see this in Impro all the time because it loosens up the crowd to participate and applaud more, something lacking in this crowd.
Cait Harris - Nearly drowning in Hawaii
Jacqueline Maley (SMH) - A carnival ride breaks down with her on it.
David Cunningham (The Checkout) - David's acting career.
Cale Bain (Improv Theatre Sydney) - Cale gets in a fight over a girl he hasn't met.
Tyrolin Puxty (Award winning author & musician) - When her friends send an inappropriate text to her boyfriend, things get awkward.
Zoe Norton Lodge (Story Club) - Explosion in Annandale.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
05.10.17 : Blade Runner 2049 - movie
Sci-Fi, Thriller : A young blade runner's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years. It took about 10 min to realise this is exactly like the original, ie slow, dull, and boring. It's hours of superfluous BS setting up mood and atmosphere making it so slow that you loose interest when something actually happens. 30 min of story with 2 hours of cr@p. 2
29.09.17 : Queerstories – Fringe edition : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Always wanted to see at least one of these for curiosity sake, but never had the chance before because it always sells out. I wanted to know if it was funny like Story Club, or is serious like LNL Queerstories(not related). It ended up being both, but more biased to the serious. Jordan Raskopolous and Cassie Workman provided laughs, and the rest provided serious stories about suicide, AIDS, cancer, etc. It kind-of felt like a support group with like minded people, but with some entertainment to classify it was a show. It's fine, but probably a bit too confronting for me. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
29.09.17 : Battle of the Sexes - movie
Biography, Comedy, Sport : The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs. So that's! the full story. I knew there was a match between a man and woman, but not why, and certainly not what happened - not knowing made it better -. I liked it a lot. 3.75
28.09.17 : Gen Fricker - Here's Some New Shit : The Factory Theatre
Not much of a trail show, more a fully formed show. This one was also short, but this time there was a support comic to make it the correct length. Pretty good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
28.09.17 : Flatliners - movie
Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi : Five medical students, obsessed by what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring experiment. I don't remember much about the original, and certainly not the details, but I do know it was way better than this one. I got bored early on and tuned out, and could pretty much predict everything that was going to happen. Not fully annoying, more boring. 2
27.09.17 : OMG Twins! : The Factory Theatre
I can't watch conventional Improv, because there are no surprises. I'm so used to brilliant Impro from the old days that I expect it, and that makes it hard to watch ordinary Improv, and the last good Improv I saw was unconventional "way out there" from Project52. The first 2 pairs were so conventional that it made my mind wander, but the last pair of Zoë Rae(MegRyan) and Ivy Latimer showed everyone how it was done with a very funny 15 min. 4 for the girls, but the others were only a 1 for me. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
27.09.17 : Becky Lucas & Cameron James - We've Arrived : The Factory Theatre
I was expecting them to do 30 min of standup each, but instead the came out together and bounced off each other with alternating stories, and that made it fast paced and way better. Great. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
27.09.17 : Eve Ellenbogen (USA) - Don't Get Mad at Me : The Factory Theatre
Young comics usually pick confronting subjects, but Eve is closer to a old time lol comic. There was only three of us in the audience, but overall it was good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
26.09.17 : Sophie Long - Almost A Psychopath : The Factory Theatre
To me it felt more like stories than comedy - could be the subject matter - , but going by the audience, half were laughing a lot, and half weren't, so make up your own mind. It's probably best not to do 3 shows(3 hrs) in a row, because you get less tolerant at the end. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3
26.09.17 : Nina Oyama - Needs A Lift : The Factory Theatre
There is probably too much show in this one, at least in the first half, but it's still good. I feel there was too much details/talking for half of it, but since this is only a trial that might all get ironed out. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
26.09.17 : What Are We - Here We Are! : The Factory Theatre
Fun sketch comedy. I usually hate sketch, but this one I liked. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
21.09.17 : Kingsman: The Golden Circle - movie
Action, Adventure, Comedy(not really) : The Kingsman's journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US. I hated the first, but this one is better. Action, crazy plot twists, unexpected stuff, and a general weirdness, makes it entertaining if you don't take it seriously. Maybe a touch long, but something unconventional comes along often enough that it only feels that way in brief moments at the end. No complaints. 3.5
20.09.17 : Rose Matafeo (NZ) - Sassy Best Friend : The Factory Theatre
"Nice" is the polite way of saying, it's ok just not super funny. It has an inordinate amount of material on the side effects of the Pill making you go crazy due to hormone imbalance, but at least it's that it's busy, packed, and fast paced due to a lot of fast talking. More smile humour with material more suited for younger people. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 2.75
20.09.17 : Takashi Waka (JPN) - Japan Things : The Factory Theatre
The "Fish out of water" comedy due to cultural differences is always funny, and this is one of the good ones. All of the native comedy I see from Oriental Asian countries is a more basic simple style of comedy, but because Takashi is a bit Westernised the comedy is kind-of half way to a more technical Western style. There is comedy in the language barrier, and that plays havoc in something simple as having sex - there is quite a bit dirty talk -, all the way to the physical world, like our weird wall trough toilets. Quite good, with genuine LOL laughs. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
19.09.17 : American Assassin - movie
Action, Thriller : A story centred on counter-terrorism agent Mitch Rapp. Thankfully it was an action film rather than anything serious and boring. Good enough for me. 3.25
14.09.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
It was like the catastrophe of a couple weeks back, but not because of bad dice, but because it was all self inflicted. Once you're invested in the characters it not as much fun when things go bad, but that's the swings and roundabouts. It was a simple brief at the start, get rid of the cursed axe and fly to Omu and work out the mystery, but by the end of the first half all they managed was to travel 100 meters down to mountain to the river. Then to make things worse, by the end of the second half they actually went backward to again meet a tribe from 4 weeks back. I was expecting Dungeon Dave to make a portal and force them to Omu by the second half, if they were dawdling, so that the story could end by this last show. But nothing happened except bad stuff compounded. I can understand why they went on a pointless made-up task, because it could yield a good punchline like the diarrhoea that killed the super villain Strade, but when it turns catastrophic it becomes a downer. Oh well at least there will be another season, unless everyone dies in the very first episode because they have pretty much lost all their hit points in this episode. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
12.09.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I couldn't remember what happened the last episodes, and I was lost through some of this episode - probably sat in the wrong place and couldn't hear -. At least there was one gag that was so funny that everyone lost their sh!t from laughing. Will have to go back and listen to the podcast.
Crowd : 4 - Me : na
05.09.17 : Enmore Comedy Club : Enmore Theatre
Mark Nelson (SCO)
Tom Rhodes (USA)
Angella Dravid (NZ)
Cameron James
Shayne Hunter
Eric Hutton
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
05.09.17 : Wolf Warrior II - movie
Action, Drama, War : China's deadliest special forces operative must fight his way through a rebel coup. Curiosity finally made me see why this was so big in China. We see so many films were America is the good guys, so it was quite different to see another country portrayed at the planet's police. Basically it's far from perfect, but it is a decent enough action movie. 3
04.09.17 : Story Club - It's Not What It Looks Like : Giant Dwarf Theatre
A bit of gee-up of the audience was good.
Ben Jenkins : During a drinking binge they come up with a plan to leave a sick message on the work answering machine.
Mark Sutton (The Checkout, Dr of Dylanology) : Booking his band to play a gig at a Folk Festival before they even had played together.
Cassie Workman : It's always this complicated writing that's always kind-of beautiful and sad at the same time.
Sam Paine (Mudgee Underground – Founder) : Sam had to take over the lighting desk at a circus, when the regular guy went clinically insane.
Lewis Hobba (Triple J) : Lewis explained about his medical procedure to correct his jaw growing sideways, I had just skulled a coke and I nearly threw up because it was that horrific.
Zoe Norton Lodge (from this event mainly) : The diabetes glucose test had her back in the playground with another sweet drink that brought back a bad memory. A bit sad.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
01.09.17 : The Hitman's Bodyguard - movie
Action, Comedy : The world's top bodyguard has to protect a hit man. It's not as funny as the trailer suggests. Things that reduce the laughs are, it's a bit too serious, a bit too violent, and the Samuel L. Jackson character is pretty annoying for the first half, but it's above average so it is good. 3.5
31.08.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
Talk about getting side tracked. After about 20 minutes of DuckTails, the continuation of last weeks depressing catastrophic failure recovered to make the adventure good again. I guess we are all invested in the characters so we want success, but constant success would get boring after a time - a Catch 22 -, so you have to have the bad and good. The second half was confusing puzzles that had everyone frustratingly confused. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
28.08.17 : American Made - movie
Action, Biography : A pilot lands work for the CIA and as a drug runner in the south during the 1980s. It's not high octane Tom Cruise action but more drama action because it's based on a true story, so you could say an action dramatisation. Pretty good 3.75
24.08.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
Philge Lee seems to have hit another level of Impro, because for the last couple of weeks she's being forcing the show to be more entertaining by coming up with weird and wonderful scenarios based on her characters foibles - reminds me of how Jordan McClellan used to make sh!t happen -. In the first half Philge went to places so unexpected and off the cuff, that everyone just lost their sh!t laughing. People were actually crying from laughing.
The second half was a different story, because at the start of the night the DF's had a plan that would have reaped big rewards, but by the end of the night the mission was so unrecoverable that the only option is to run away and loose everything. There was a bit of bad luck, which they seam to just be coping with, but coupled with a technical error the whole mission turned into a catastrophic failure on an unprecedented scale. The game has to travel fast for the sake of entertainment, and coupled with all the added humour it gets busy and hard to keep track of everything, so stuff gets missed. It was kind-of a downer when it failed.
What it did highlight was the problems with the whole D&D game, and even more problems trying to make the game of D&D a pure form of entertainment for a general public, ie make someone off the street with no D&D knowledge laugh. The technical game problem is that if you show any morals or conscience, you get penalised so badly that the character can actually die. But if you use the Freezo rule of killing indiscriminately when you have an advantage, you are way, way, better off. So much for the game teaching you right from wrong, because a psychopath Freezo is the correct way to play the game. The second performance problem is that if a player sticks to their character's personality for the sake of entertainment, they also get penalised and can die, eg the Philge character isn't very smart so Alex made him do something dumb to get a laugh, because it's what the character would do, but because of it she nearly died. So it comes down to a Catch22, because if you are entertaining, which is what the show is about, you have a greater chance of dying, but if you are boring, which is bad for entertainment, you live. 1st half 5, and the 2nd half 3. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 4.25
22.08.17 : The Adventurers - movie
Action, Adventure, Crime : The world's top thieves join forces to pull off the heist of a lifetime. The trailer sucks you in because it's flashy/trendy and fast paced, but the film is all flash and no substance. The heist isn't clever, and in fact there is nothing clever in it at all. The other problem is that there's a lot of English dialogue, and because it's everyone's second language they don't know how to deliver it with emotion. Basically they should have keep their native languages and sud-tittled it. A bit boring. 1.5
18.08.17 : Logan Lucky - movie
Comedy, Crime, Drama : Two brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina. The trailer makes it out as a comedy, but I did not hear one laugh form the audience. Even the heist wan't that clever. The 2 hours felt like 3 because it's unfunny and unremarkable. 2
17.08.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
They went from suits to casual Hawaiian shirts, and the whole thing felt weird, scattered, and loose. I shot myself in the foot, because being old makes little things piss-you-off, so when I heard that there was a complaint and the show was going to be sterilised all I could think of was that the show was going to be c@rp just after it got good. Basically I have no interest in the technical boring D&D that the D&D nerds think is the only way to do it, and only want this performance based show using a D&D theme where every instance is used to entertain a general public audience. They did go back to the crude smut straight away - I do prefer euphemism smut because it's clever -, but the annoying complaint thing continued. Things you will notice recently is that they are making it more Impro and less D&D by adding flashbacks. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : na
17.08.17 : The Dark Tower - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : The last Gunslinger has been locked in an eternal battle determined to prevent Walter O'Dim from toppling the Dark Tower. When will old critics learn that things don't have to make sense to be entertaining, because this one was. It's got this mystery vid that keeps you hooked, and the action in the second half just makes it even better. Not as good as Naga pearls, but better than Valerian. 3.5-3.75
15.08.17 : Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield - movie
Action, Drama, History : In the Ming dynasty a secret police agent of a corrupt government is trapped by the conspiracy. I pushed my luck thinking I could get two good movies in one day. This one is a political, back-stabbing, double-crossing, drama, and it that that makes it heavy and not fun. There is enough to make it decent, but I wouldn't have missed much if I didn't see it. 3
15.08.17 : Legend of the Naga Pearls - movie
Fantasy, Action, Adventure : Releasing the Naga perals will destroy all humanity. For pure entertainment, that is one very good movie. It's like Eurovision's Lordi, meets martial arts, meets dragons, meets a non boring LOTR. It's non stop constant surprises that gets better as it goes. You can tell it's good when the 2 hours feel like 40 min. Starts as an interesting 3.5 and ramps up to a great 4. 3.75
10.08.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
You can tell it's good when you start joining in with the preposterous logic of Fantasy. It only truly gets funny when it goes a little crazy, and last week was funny. This week was nutso crazy, so it was extra funny. Best ep so far. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
10.08.17 : Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard Alpha. This thing is WAY, WAY, out there. SciFi peeps ain't going to like this because it's not SciFi serious, but Sci-Fantasy. You can tell this is only designed as entertainment because every minute is like exaggerated visuals on steroids. The problem with it is that it's treated in this light-hearted comical manner for 90% of it, so that when the serious dramatic heart felt moment comes at the end you feel nothing because you never got invested in the characters. Think the Cantina Scene Star Wars where there are crazy looking aliens, but running the whole 2½ hours, and with a bigger budget that doesn't make them look cheap like SW. Then couple that with the craziness of The Fifth Element, and mash it with Avatar. It's fine if you accept it's only designed as entertainment, but you won't feel any emotions. 3.5
08.08.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Why didn't they grab Michael and the box? Plenty of laughs in this one. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
08.08.17 : The Big Sick - movie
Comedy, Romance : Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gordon fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. It has a slight Independent feel, not fully unpolished Independent, but not polished Hollywood. At the end you find out part of the story comes from Kamail and his wife Emily, and that explained the Independent feel. More Drama RomCom, so it's up and down, but still good. 3.75
07.08.17 : Story Club - Smoke and Mirrors : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I thought it was good, but the crowd wasn't. Maybe they need a cracker up the arse at the start because their lack lustre clapping was cr@p.
Ben Jenkins : His huge one term science project goes rather badly. It was kind-of missing those crazy metaphors that we are used to, but it was fine.
Jess Dettmann : Having to go to two Xmas's because of a split family, and finding out Santa isn't real
Rachel Cole : Her quest to find the "rabbit" finds a cheap substitute. It's kind-of weird when you find out young people in this day and age are sexually repressed because there is so much debauchery around, but then again it was a religious upbringing.
Gen Fricker : Therapy sessions. It could've been depressing, but the story was light-hearted and nice.
Rob Carlton : Trying to get a role in a musical when you can't sing gets weird when the lessons make you worse.
Zoe Norton Lodge : Her first real job ends in an explosion.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
03.08.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
This one was actually quite good. There was a section in the first half that I felt got a bit too bogged down in semantics, but then again I'm only interested in the live performance aspect of a show, and not the actual game play. I watched a small bit of another traditional D&D stream and all the preconceived notions by the uninformed general public are true, ie slow, dull, tied down in technical rules, etc, and it's these things that make it unacceptable as entertainment, unless you are a D&D nerd. I should have watched more before I made a judgement, but the few minutes was enough to bore me. This get streamed on a nerd D&D channel so they complain that it's played wrong, but in actual fact that demographic don't see live entertainment and don't know that entertainment has to be entertaining. Everyone of the DF have done over a decade of live performances so they will do whatever it takes to keep the entertainment level up, and it's accurate rule play that ends up killing entertainment. The problem now is how do you get the general public interested in this entertainment form of D&D, when everyone has a preconceived notion that it's anal. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
03.08.17 : Atomic Blonde - movie
Action, Mystery, Thriller : An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent. It kind-of has that English feel where they use gimmicks to cover-up that it hasn't got a big budget, but thankfully that changes in the second half where it gets rather good. Charlize Theron is awesome because she plays such a hard character, something that was lacking in Aeon Flux. 3.75
01.08.17 : Dunkirk - movie
Action, Drama, History : The evacuation of Dunkirk. Long, slow, sparse, and not realistic at times. Suffers from low budget, like in real life the ships were so packed you couldn't fall over if you fainted and yet in this movie you could see the ships were half empty. 2.5
27.07.17 : Dragon Friends Tomb of Annihilation @ The PHP Recording : Public House Petersham
From an entertainment stand point, the first half was a write-off. The regicide of the King was taking too long, so it was a relief it was over, but then they went back and committed accidental genocide. Basically it went from slow ok, to relief, to disgusting yuck, because that right and wrong feeling told us it was wrong. The second half was totally different and back to DF form, it's just that the sour taste lingered. It was that clever word banter that needs to be there is a static performance, and the DF's do it well. I just wish there was less gratuitous graphic sex, like the guys sucking each other off seemed like a cheap grab at a laugh, and at least converted to comical sex, like the helicopter d!ck, or at least euphemisms like shlong. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
13.07.17 : Baby Driver - movie
Action, Crime, Music : After being coerced into working for a crime boss a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist. I was wondering why anyone would give a movie such a stupid childish name, and now I know why. The movie uses trendy BS wank to make it appeal to the younger crowd and cover up the fact that this is the same old simple driver story that has been done to death before. Boring try-hard crap. 2
11.07.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
The first half was fine but I felt that the second half stalled in places, which might have been a simple case of someone forgetting to look around when they got to a dead room for a clue to move the story on, or that maybe we are so familiar with the show that we want things to happen faster. Either way it seemed like less laughing by the audience - this could've been my earplugs -, even though they seemed to applaud at the end by the same usual amount. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
On a side note the live show feels funnier/freer than the Stream of Annihilation, which might be due to the immediate audience laugh feedback feeding the craziness or that they have to keep the stream more PC, but by next week they will have a small audience so we will see what happens.
10.07.17 : The House - movie
Comedy : A girl's parents start an illegal casino in their basement to pay for their daughter's college fund. That was way better than I was expecting. The trailer made it looks lame and sparse but it was actually fun a full. I liked so much I nearly gave it a 3.75. 3.5
07.07.17 : Spider-Man - Homecoming - movie
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi : I don't remember Peter Parker being a moron, but in this one he is. PP is annoying, but what is an order of magnitude more annoying is the pathetic attempt at comedy that is so inept and lame it just gives you the sh!ts. 3
04.07.17 : Baywatch - movie
Action, Comedy, Drama : Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon butts heads with a brash new recruit, as they uncover a criminal plot that threatens the future of the bay. I loathed the TV series because it was moronic, but this movies is quite watchable. No intellectual masterpiece, but just enough laughs to make it was ok to watch. 3
03.07.17 : Story Club - Hopelessly Devoted : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I thought I was on a winner because the first four stories weren't serious - if I want serious I have my own life -, but the last two changed that. I find I can't just can't concentrate during some stories - it spoils the night for me - , and it's usually the serious stuff. But give me the non-serious stuff and I seem to hang on every word because they are just plain fun.
Alex Lee - The dreaded once a month occurrence.
Benedict Hardie - The best bicycle in the world, wasn't.
Justin Hamilton - Telling the truth
Jen Carnovale - the Limpet won't let go no matter how bad things become.
Cathy Wilcox - The unknown affair.
Nakkiah Lui - The stigma of being large.
Was running at 4.5, but the end changed that. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
27.06.17 : Transformers - The Last Knight - movie
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi : Autobots and Decepticons are at war with humans on the sidelines, and Optimus Prime is gone. Incomprehensible, but entertaining. When you give up trying to understand the logic and just accept it, you will enjoy it more. If you like things smashing into other thing from spectacular viewpoints, this one it right up there. It's like stepping into the middle of a conversation and trying to catchup, because it's a bit confusing, and if wasn't for that it would have been a 3.75. 3.5
20.06.17 : Rough Night - movie
Comedy : Things go terribly wrong for a group of girlfriends who hire a male stripper for a bachelorette party. It wasn't that funny to begin with, but when they introduced points that were too serious - did they have to make the murder so bloody -, it killed anything it had left. Usually pretty people cover up a bad movie, but this one had some diversity quota that made most of the character not instantly likeable. The saying is "Sex Sells", but it's more "Attractiveness attracts", - the uncontrollable preprogrammed "Friend or Foe" human response -, because it make you more tolerant. 2
13.06.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
There was so many new characters added in the first half that no one could be crazy or quirky - crazy and quirky makes the comedy - so it was pretty much conventional story except for the small bit where Freezo murders another person. There were so many characters that their accents blended together - half the comedy is the accents -, so for old people like me it was hard to discern the different characters. Things were less busy with characters in the second half, so things returned to normal funny. Probably a 3.25 in the first half with it returning to 3.75 in the second. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
13.06.17 : The Mummy - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : An ancient princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolent evil. They should'ave given this a totally new name so it wouldn't have been compared to the old one, because this one is totally different and has no relation to it. I think peoples problem is that the old movie was light-hearted fun, but that this one is serious. More drama and horror, with a much bigger crazy convoluted story to keep you interested all the way through. I found it compelling all the way through. 3.75
12.06.17 : Epping Model Railway Exhibition : Thornleigh Brickpit Basketball Stadium
I was watching the model train videos from last year on leokimvideo - YouTube and thought it would be good to see it for real, but reality wasn't as good as leo's vidoes. Some of the layouts were better from behind than the display at the front, because there was huge marshalling yards with heaps of trains in them, i.e. some had two tracks at the front and 10 at the back. 2.5
07.06.17 : Dr Karl Kruszelnicki - The Doctor: The time(less) lord of science : University of Sydney
Entertaining, and you learn something too. Self-sustaining natural nuclear reactors have been running for a few hundred thousand years about 2 billions years ago in Gabon. Forgetting something when you leave a room might be a programed evolutionary response. Gravitational waves. Portals could kill you if you enter one at the equator and exit at the South pole, because you would be travelling at 1670kph due the rotational speed of the Earth and 0 at the pole. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
06.06.17 : Wonder Woman - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : Before she was Wonder Woman she was Diana, princess of the Amazons. A bit too conventional and a bit too slow paced, but ok. When things are set in a non-technical era, like Captain America, it feels pretty conventional if there isn't a lot of imaginative fantasy to surprise us, and neither of those films surprised me. 75% conventional nothing special, with a bit of fantasy at the end. 3.5
05.06.17 : Story Club - If I Could Turn Back Time : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Most were good but there was one with a bit of a personal agenda and one with a personal struggle, and because I use use entertainment as a distraction for problems they didn't really click because at those few points it wasn't entertained. I guess you can only enjoy struggles if you aren't struggling.
Osher Günsberg - Doing the right thing and putting out a bonfire that could have caused a bushfire had him in hospital with 3rd degree burns.
Penny Greenhalgh - First job working in a country cafe.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Equating the Tequila song to bad things and when will be your last tequila song before you die.
Michelle Brasier - Her thirst to feel something came all at once when she caught fire and ended up in hospital with 3rd degree burns.
Jordan Raskopoulos - TV career.
Michael Workman - Coming out as a woman.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
30.05.17 : Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : Captain Jack Sparrow searches for the trident of Poseidon. There was a lot of story in this one, but it still had enough POTC comedy to be fun. 3.75
24.04.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Gearard McGowan(MC), Bec Charlwood, Trevor Crook
At bit crazy, but good. Someone fainted and face-planted the floor. A woman lost her sh!t laughing when Trevor mistakenly assumed her husband was an entrepreneur when she knew he wasn't - he was probably a burger flipper -, and that had the room in hysterics. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
20.05.17 : Dave Hughes - Deluded : The Factory Theatre
Dave is still consistently excellent. Funniest show I saw at the SCF. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4.5
18.05.17 : Rhys Nicholson - I’m Fine : The Factory Theatre
That last show he did that got on TV wasn't one of the good ones, but in this one he returns to his disgusting best The funniest thing I've seen so far in the festival. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
18.05.17 : Dusty Rich (RSA) - Dusty Rich and the Voices : The Factory Theatre
He's youngish so he's not a full professional, he's unknown, and yet he was funnier that the big name UK comics that I've seen in the festival so far. He's pretty animated and excitable, so he oozes enthusiasm, and the only thing detracting for me is that he seams do more crowd work than has material. Probably a bit expensive for what you get - so were the UK comics -, but then again you are never going to get those wild stories from many other countries other than South Africa. With the UK comics I had time to ponder why I wasn't laughing, but with Dusty he was captivating enough that I didn't notice. Nice enough. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
18.05.17 : John Wick: Chapter 2 - movie
Action, Crime, Thriller : Wick has to honour a debt. There is nothing ground breaking about it, just a guy killing 200 people one at a time in conventional manner. 3
17.05.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Cameron James(MC), Fran Middleton, Darren Sanders
Alternative comedy is more inner city, so Fran didn't do too well, but Darren was good. If you add up all the set written material he has done over the years he could probably to a straight 3 hour slot, but because you don't hear much of it anymore - it's mainly all ad-lib now -, I wonder if all of that material has been lost or forgotten. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
16.05.17 : Pint of Science - Challenging the Laws of Physics : Bar Cleveland
I thought last nights room was ridiculously small because a few people had to stand up, this one was such a farce that 2/3 of the crowd had to be in another room looking through a small hole in the wall. The stupid thing about all this was the second room was big enough to hold everyone, but didn't have a screen, a screen that hardly anyone could see anyway. I left after the first speaker, and will throw away my ticket for tomorrow. 0
16.05.17 : Snatched - movie
Action, Comedy : A young woman persuades her ultra-cautious mother to travel with her to paradise. Like the trailer it's not particularly funny, and as more and more bad things happen, i.e. violence, it get less funny. Watchable, but no joy. 2
15.05.17 : Pint of Science - Quantum Quickies : Shakespeare Hotel
Quantum Bits : A walk through the world of quantum computing.
Quantum Bytes : Bringing quantum computing to the masses
I wasn't expecting to learn much because because information from quantum research is slow because it's expensive, but they way they delivered it using a metaphor was terrible. In a metaphor you have to know what the references are in the real world so you can convert it in your head, but because I didn't, and it was explained, I didn't know what any of it meant. When it got back to real world stuff it made sense, but like I said, there isn't much that is new, or at least interesting. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 2
13.05.17 : Guildford Trash and Treasure Market : Guildford West
That will learn ya, don't go to new markets. At 3 weeks old it was tiny.
11.05.17 : Sarah Callaghan (UK) - 24 : The Factory Theatre
I wanted to laugh because she is delightful, but I didn't. She's good when she is on UK TV, so maybe it's this particular show, and coupled with an unfortunately small crowd there wasn't much laughing at all. A bigger crowd will make it better, and after all it was worth going because this is probably the only time I will ever see her live. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
10.05.17 : Susie Youssef - Behave Youssef : The Factory Theatre
I have to rule myself out of this one because I saw most of it last week at Story Club, but it's the usual Susie charming. You know what to expect if you have seen here before, and you won't be disappointed. Crowd : 4 - Me : na
10.05.17 : Nurse Georgie Carroll (UK): Gauze & Affect : The Factory Theatre
Jo Brand tells a good story from her nursing days so I thought this would be something similar, but it's a bit milder in actual laughs. If you are in nursing you will probably like it a lot, but if you are an outsider you will find Georgie delightful even thought there isn't as many funny stories to laugh at. Nurse Georgie is very bubbly and animated, so she is inflectionally lovable - lol -, with half the show talking to other nurses in the audience and half medical stories - nothing gross -. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
10.05.17 : Fairfield Trash and Treasure Market : Fairfield Showground
A mixture of new and old, with more second hand stuff than new stuff.
09.05.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
When that cats away, i.e. Dungeon Dave, the mice will play, and it was the mucking-around that made it good. Lots of swearing, not that that matters in Australia because their overuse has reduced their power, and the usual fun ridiculousness. Ban's dungeon mastery, i.e. knowing when to dish out random hit points for comedic effect, puts Dungeon Dave's position in question. It was the classic case of when drama is used the audience just sits there doing nothing because everything is pictured for them, but with comedy you have to think how the comics thoughts are working, and it's the thinking and getting the gag that is rewarding. A beautiful schmozzle. On a side note they are going to the US to record some live shows that will be on Twitch, but I don't know the details like when and how you watch them. Crowd : 4 - Me : 4
06.05.17 : Alice Fraser - Empire : The Factory Theatre
I think that lack of big laugh shows in this festival finally got to me, because the lack of the usual punctuated laugh points had me waning in the last quarter. These shows usually go, gag-serious-gag-serious-gag-serious-etc. This one was, gag-serious-confusing logic-serious-confusing logic-serious-serious-serious.Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
06.05.17 : Joe Lycett (UK)-That’s The Way Aha Aha, Joe Lycett : The Factory Theatre
The crowd loved him, but I hardly laughed at all. Not that it mattered, because Joe is good looking, friendly, nice, and has a sweet accent, and that made me not mind the lack of laughs at all - basically "Attractive, attracts", and that makes you more tolerant -. Half of the material is from 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, so I had seen most of it, and is mainly of that same clever worded online email troll style that Joe does. But due to it being live, it does lose that controlled construction that maximises that delivery, and laughs, that you find on TV. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.5
04.05.17 : Ivan Aristeguieta (VEN) - Juithy : The Factory Theatre
If I got to see the whole show it probably would have been a 4. This was purely the organisers fault, because the stack the shows tight together with no gap and then start the first one late and the second one on time, and that made you miss maybe 15 min of this show - there were mango call-backs I didn't get -. Lots of Australian material, which we love, and generally just a good fun time. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
04.05.17 : Larry Dean (SCO) - Farcissist : The Factory Theatre
He's friendly nice and does subjects that aren't that serious, and that makes the whole show fun. There is quite a bit of gay stories, but he is so un-gay that it's never that boring gay stereotype that were are all sick of because it's been been all done to death decades ago. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
03.05.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Chris Franklin, Rebecca De Unamuno, Laura Hughes(MC)
It was a bit of a tough slog for Bek, but she got the job done. It got a bit uncomfortable at the end because Franklin and his fans got drunk and rowdy, and whenever they said something Chris would pause, like he had the sh!ts and was about to do something, and that made the non drinkers uncomfortable. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3
02.05.17 : Colossal - movie
Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi : A monster and a girl are inextricably linked. You know how some small independent films are magical because they are clever or cute, well this isn't one of those. I think the characters were just too unlikeable, and the idea of the premise wasn't done that well. 3
01.05.17 : Story Club - Let it go : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I don't know if I was just tired for being a mechanic for a day, or that is was a bit mild in the first half. The second half was more what we were used to.
Susie Youssef(Host) : Bingeing on chic peas lands her in hospital.
JR Hennessy : Accidentally helping someone write a erotic novel.
Chris Taylor : Nativity play goes wrong.
Jacqueline Maley : Moving to Northern Ireland to breakup with a boyfriend lands her and her mum in a riot.
Becky Lucas : A troll's comment has him and his Sex doll exposed.
David Cunningham : School achievements.
Crowd : 4 - Me : na
28.04.17 : DeAnne Smith (CAN) - Post-Joke Era : The Factory Theatre
You know how everyone in Seinfeld has this superficial relation deal-breaker, well I have show-breakers. All it takes is something going wrong and I can't enjoy the show, because I'm always thinking about it. For this one I accidentally bought tickets for overlapping shows, so I had to miss 15 min because the other comic had precedence due to him being first-timer for me. The other problem was that I watched ABC's Comedy Up Late and most of DeAnne show was in it, so that spoilt it for me because i knew the gags. Crowd : 4 - Me : na
28.04.17 : Phill Jupitus (UK) Juplicity : The Factory Theatre
He has this killer routine about being told his daughter is about to have anal sex with her boyfriend for the first time, but this one is nowhere near as funny. At halfway I was sitting there willing it to be a touch better, so it would be a 4, but from then on if actually dropped. The major part of the show, about 2/3rd of it, is about him learning about sex for the first time at 7 years old. But because it was curiosity rather than intent, there isn't that embarrassment factor that makes it funny, ie, it's innocent curiosity so it's normal. 3 woofs, then quickly to 3.75, but then tapering to 3.25. I missed the crowd response because I had an overlapping show, and it wasn't getting better. Crowd : na - Me : 3.5
27.04.17 : David O'Doherty (IRE) - Big Time : Enmore Theatre
I don't know why the show is called Big Time - he didn't even do his Big Time song -, because he had HOPEFULLY plastered over the stage. This is one of the comics that I categorise as fun, ie nothing serious just inconsequential stuff, and it's that light-hearted stuff that makes it fun. There was no show after so Dave ran it to 80 min. Laughs were about 3.75, but the warm and fuzzy fun feeling made it a 4. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 4
26.04.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Christian Elderfield UK (Britain's Got Talent, Comedy Cafe ,New Act of the year), Peter Misel, Andrew Hastings, MC Emma Zammit
I was going to give it a miss because I'm going to so many SCF shows, but I remembered the Romesh factor from last night, ie unseen OS comics usually get added novelty value points, and that was what happened. Hadn't seen Christian, I don't remember seeing Andrew, and it's been so long for Emma that I have forgotten her stuff, so everything was newish, and coupled with a decent crowd made it good. Even Peter found some stuff that the crowd didn't remember, or at least not that well, so even he got laughs. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.75
26.04.17 : Going in Style - movie
Comedy, Crime : Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, three lifelong pals risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money. Because there was no trailers, which was good, it ended up being very different from what I expected. Nice, but I think you have to be old to get the "in" jokes. 3.5
25.04.17 : Romesh Ranganathan (UK) - Irrational : The Factory Theatre
Pretty good, but the novelty value of someone new added a few bonus points. For me it was probably about 3.5 laughs, but being new made it 3.75. The crowd exploded at the end, but I don't think they laughed that much throughout. Crowd : 4.5 - Me : 3.75
25.04.17 : Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - movie
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi : Vol. 2 continues the team's adventures. I found the comedy so lame in the first one that it made me hate the movie, but this one I quite liked. I don't know what it was but there are small bits that aren't right - maybe too nonsensical -, but because there is so much visuals every minute of the film you never know exactly what it is. The visuals are so busy that you will be entertained throughout. 3.5
24.04.17 : Table 19 - movie
Comedy, Drama : Eloise, having been relieved of maid of honour duties, decides to attend the wedding anyway, only to find herself seated with five fellow unwanted guests at the dreaded Table 19. It started off cute enough, but soon after it felt like it didn't have any direction and wasn't working. But then a half distance it changed into a totally different movie that was a bit serious and deep, and that turned it around and made it good. 3
18.04.17 : Fast & Furious 8-The Fate of the Furious - movie
Action, Crime, Thriller : A mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of terrorism and a betrayal. Compared to the earlier childish boy racer films, the franchise has grown to have a level of logic, be it Hollywood action logic, that it now makes a decent action film. 3.25
14.04.17 : CHIPS - movie
Action, Comedy, Crime : A rookie officer is teamed with a hardened pro at the California Highway Patrol. The way they have been cutting sessions at my local cinema I thought it would be bad, but it ended up being quite a decent film that was fun and pretty well thought out. Not super funny, but fun enough that I quite liked it. 3.5
13.04.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Madeleine Culp(MC), Micky Dee, Mick Meredith
There were some piss-heads - doesn't effect me because I had earplugs - , but overall it was good. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.5
11.04.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
They went on all these tangents talking about superfluous things in detail, which might sound like a bad idea, but because they did it for comedic purposes it was very good, ie funny. They also never use conventional solutions to solve situations, ie buying shares in the privately owned police force to avoid being shot because they were shareholders, and this also makes the show good because conventional would be boring. Comedy is half the joke, and half the audience working it out by thinking, and with conventional you don't do any thinking because you have seen it before. Basically this show only works by being strange, or else it would just be another boring D&D game. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
05.04.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Eric Hutton(MC), Dane Hiser, Gary Eck
Thank fu*k it was good, because I was thinking of quitting Oatley because it was pretty bad last time I was here. The problem is that only a small group of regulars turn up, who already know all the regular material of most comics, and most of the comics run out of material and can't improvise well enough. So you get this situation where the lack of laughing kills anything they have.
I don't think Eric or Dane had been here for quite a while, so all their stuff was new to the crowd and produced good laughs, and Gary improvised well - not many are good a crowd work - and added some new stuff, so again it was also new to the crowd and produced good laughs. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : 3.5
03.04.17 : Story Club - More Fool Me : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Back to form.
Ben Jenkins - First writing job for TV doesn't go well.
Dave Harmon - Being in a Star War film.
Cait Harris - A horse love story goes badly.
Richard Glover - My mother ran off with my teacher.
Tracey Spicer - A love story at the roller rink turns sour.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Should I prostitute myself for $20,000.
Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 4
30.03.17 : Ghost in the Shell - movie
Action, Crime, Drama : In the near future Major is the first of her kind, a cyber-enhanced human. I know nothing about original so I don't know what it's supposed to be like, but the movie felt like it didn't have enough action, intrigue, or mystery, than I was expecting. It also feels and looks a bit weird. Ok, but not captivating. 3
28.03.17 : Power Rangers - movie
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi : A group of high-school students are infused with unique superpowers. For the most part, ie the first ¾, I quite liked it. Most of it is fine for grown ups because it feels fairly real world, but more importantly it has no moronic dumb dialogue - bad dialogue is a big turn-off for me -. The last ¼ turns into that crazy illogical silly Japanese action stuff, but it doesn't last that long so it's fine - I wouldn't be able to handle a whole film of that crazy action -. 3.5
24.03.17 : Life - movie
Horror, Sci-Fi : Mars life form. So, so, excruciatingly boring. You can't watch horror after a certain age because you would've seen every trick in the book, and because horror is a one-trick-pony it's all a boring rehash of something you have seen before. Heaps of clichéd situations forcing the tension is boring because you can see them coming. If you don't walk out before 2/3 - I nearly did -, you'll be able to tolerate the last 1/3. 1
22.03.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Markus Birdman (Comedy Central's The World Stands Up, Live at The Comedy Store, Jongleurs Live), Peter Meisel, David Smiedt(MC)
I kind-of went pretty badly. Too many maybes to list, but I think if everyone stuck to there best routine and punched it out fast, the laugh track of the 2 people laughing would have been enough to make the other regulars that know the jokes feel good. Usually the headliner patches things up by being brilliant, but I don't know if that's just how he is or whether he got put-off by the low response to the earlier comics, but tonight he was only ok-ish. A faster delivery and more stuff would have probably fixed it. Crowd : 3 - Me : 2
15.03.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
MC Amanda Gray, Kyle Legacy, George Zach (The Week- BBC, sold out Edinburgh Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival).
It's tough when there is a small crowd of regulars, because they don't laugh because they have heard the joke before, and if they do laugh there is not enough people to make a noise. Even though he has been here heaps of times, Kyle mixed it up in the first half to make it acceptable. The second half picked up so it ended up being ok. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
14.03.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Evidently there is a place in the room where I can't hear anything, and because it was packed I was stuck there. I could figure out what was happening from the many sentences, but any short one line gag and I didn't know what people were laughing at. Basically I couldn't hear the jokes, so I don't know if it was good. I'll have to get there earlier. Crowd : 3.75 - Me : na
10.03.17 : Before I Fall - movie
Drama, Mystery : February 12 is just another day in Sam's charmed life, until she is stuck reliving her last day. This is a copy of the Groundhog Day concept, and like the other copies this one is also good. Starts off annoyingly using the spoilt high school girl thing, but gets better after that. 3.75
09.03.17 : A Few Less Men - movie
Comedy : Travel plans for three men in ill-fitting wedding tuxedos goes horribly wrong. You can see that the comedy is being forced by totally idiotic and preposterous situations, but the problem with that is that they seam to have been written by a 5 year old they are so stupid and juvenile. Not funny because it's not clever, it's just plain lame. 0
07.03.17 : Logan - movie
Drama, Action, Sci-Fi : In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. They went in a more grown up adult direction so it's full of internal struggle/soul searching type drama, and that bogged it down and made it a drag. All the drama talking coupled with nothing you haven't seen before, made me lose interest at 3/4 distance even though it was the climax of the film. Long slow sparse, with nothing new. 1
06.03.17 : Story Club - Opportunity Knocks : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I've pretty much heard all of replacement host Phil Spencer stories, and I looked at the lineup and there wasn't anyone famous. But I looked at the list again and it was the people I know that do the more imaginative writing, so I took the risk and it ended up being very good.
Phil Spencer (host) : Phil debuts his new age band.
Ange Lavoipierre (ABC) : The unwanted cat.
Alex Lee (The Checkout) : From steady boring job to crazy superficial unfulfilling job. 5 stars
Tom Ward (Please Like me) : His standup is put to the test.
Nikki Britton (V. funny lady) : Her piss take motivational expert is taken seriously by Bruce Wills and Demi Moore's daughter. 5 stars
Mark Sutton (702) : I university payed for junket half way around the world to talk about Bob Dylan
Crowd : 4.75 - Me : 4.5
28.02.17 : Fist Fight - movie
Comedy : One school teacher challenges another to an after-school fight. Because the whole movie is driven by one single premise the laughs aren't continuous, because there are no areas to derive humour from, - middle section -, I still found it had enough laughs - start and end - to make it fun to watch. I liked it. 3.5
21.02.17 : The Great Wall - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defence of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures. The movie has this weird feel to it, and it ain't because of Matt Damon, it's just one crazy ass idea for a movie. For pure entertainment, it's quite alright. 3.5
21.02.17 : Hidden Figures - movie
Biography, Drama, History : The story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program. It's not the uplifting experience it could've been. It so heavily focuses on the prejudice of the era, especially in the first 2/3, that the small wins at the end don't really pick you up. It should've been alternating ups and down, like The Man Who Knew Infinity(2016), not downs all the way with a small up at the end. It's ok. 3.5
16.02.17 : Erotic Fan Fiction : Giant Dwarf Theatre
I think I'm too used to it because it's not crazy enough for me anymore. All the stories seam like famous people have conventional sex, which feels a bit repetitive to me. Eddie Sharp's opening story about Enya's singing vagina is the sort of far-out crazy stuff that is more mentally stimulating, because it's clever, that grabs my attention straight away. I had to flake-out at half time because I was tired from lack of sleep, digging the lawn in the sun all day, and the room was getting uncomfortably hot for me. na
14.02.17 : Dragon Friends3 - A Live D&D Comedy Show : Giant Dwarf Theatre
All adventures start slow, so the fist half was a bit mild, but the quirkiness did come back in the second half. What makes the show funny is the quirkiness of the characters, like what would be more apt for DF than killing the King Vampire with explosive diarrhoea, and if it was removed it would just be a boring D&D session that wouldn't be worth seeing. This one is set in 60 years from now so it didn't seam as magical as the medieval ones set in the past, but we will have to see how that pans out. Philge wasn't there, so that was a minus. Not as many accents/funny voices, which I love. Sure I can point out the bad points, but it's easy to forget that the brilliant ones are the exception rather than the rule, so it was ok. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
08.02.17 : Neil Hamburger & Dr El Suavo : Manning Bar
It wasn't like the old shows where he was good, but more like the last show I saw him do that I didn't like. When you do the one-liner type stuff - this was one-liner question and punchline -, you have to do it in a reasonably paced continuous rate so that the laughs of the good jokes carry over the bad jokes making you forget them quickly. No one knew Neil in the old days so when he said something offensive people would heckle, and the way he combated that was to clear his throat loudly and drown them out with amplified sound, or keep punching the out the jokes to drown out. In this show the same old gags were delivered slower, and with not great stories in-between to space them even further apart, making the show quite sparse and feeling that it ended rather quickly. At least Dr El Suavo was better than before, so that made up for it somewhat. It was ok. Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3.5
06.02.17 : Story Club - There's No Place Like Home : Giant Dwarf Theatre
This was a lot better than the last one, but it was more nice than super funny.
Ben Jenkins - Being forced to go on a course on how to make more friends.
Kirsten Drysdale - Shitting in a -7ºC snow storm.
Eddie Sharp - Turning into a drug taking Jew.
Katie Burch - We have heard a lot about her husband from her standup, but not how they met.
James Valentine - Meeting a new friend, and realising decades latter that his parents might possibly be snobs, or even worse a bit racist.
Zoe Norton Lodge - Getting drunk and staying in a castle in Ireland, and then thinking she was Bart Simpson and going on a falconry course. This one didn't start in that dynamic sarcastic and condescending way the we all love, but at least it ended closer to what we like.
Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
27.01.17 : Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - movie
Action, Horror, Sci-Fi : Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. I suppose the prefect run of my favourite action series had to eventually come to an end. All these movies got bigger and better in the CGI/action/battle/fight scenes than the last, but this one went totally for horror/action. Basically it was zombie killing all the way through with none of those big oil tanker type stuff from the last film. Alice is still the kick-ass hero that that I love - hate softies as heroes -, shame it was all just monster killing. Didn't mind it. 3.5
25.01.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Cancelled.
24.01.17 : xXx: Return of Xander Cage - movie
Action, Adventure, Thriller : Good guys, bad guys, yada yada yada. I was expecting it to be bigger that it was. These movies usually have stunts that defy the laws of physics and are so far fetched it makes you smile at the outrageousness of them, but this one only had one mild one. Too normal for a Vin film. 2.75
21.01.17 : Felicity Ward: 50% More Likely to Die : Spiegeltent Hyde Park
Half price tickets became available at the last moment so I had to go. I think it was the Hedgehog Dilemma that was brilliant, with all the other shows being good. This one is the same as the others, in that it's just plain good rather than brilliant. Crowd : 4.25 - Me : 3.75
16.01.17 : Red Dog: True Blue - movie
Comedy, Drama, Family : An iconic Australian story of family, friendship and adventure, between a young boy and a scrappy one-of-a-kind dog. It's more professionally done that Red Dog, but it's a lot less interesting. Basically you could cut the dog right out and it wouldn't make a difference. I found it quite dull and uninteresting. 2
11.01.17 : Wisecracker Wednesday : Oatley Hotel
Sally Kimpton(MC), Sean Woodland, Luke Heggie
The locals know when they are getting 2 headliners, because a lot of them turned up. Crowd : 4 - Me : 3.75
10.01.17 : Why Him? - movie
Comedy : A father is dismayed at the choice of his daughter's boyfriend. I pretty much saw 90% of the gags coming before they got to the screen. I didn't find it funny, and the crowd didn't laugh that much. 1
09.01.17 : Story Club - Tomorrow is Another Day : Giant Dwarf Theatre
Probably too much for an old audience. Not much clicked with me so I my mind keep wandering, but that could just be me, but when you looked at the crowds response they didn't make much noise either.
Ben Jenkins - Insomnia drove me insane.
Cameron James - Robbed from the other side of a window.
Eleanor Gordon Smith - Teen suicide.
Kyran Wheatley - Moving to Sydney and soon being in a foursome.
Eleanor Robertson - Atheist church.
Tom Walker - The Fleshlight.
Crowd : 3.5 - Me : 3
05.01.17 : The Edge of Seventeen - movie
Comedy, Drama : High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother. It's a bit sweet and sour, in that it's lovable one minute and unlovable the next. It starts of as a fun little comedy with attractive people and jokes, but after you realise that the main character is self-centred and not very nice, the movie turns. 3
03.01.17 : Assassin's Creed - movie
Action, Adventure, Fantasy : A man is injected with the DNA memories of a ancestor that died 500 year ago to locate a relic that takes free will away. The whole movies wasn't clear so you didn't really know what was happening, the fight scenes weren't anything special, and 1400 Spain isn't that interesting. Pretty interesting. 1
02.01.17 : Passengers - movie
Adventure, Drama, Romance : A spacecraft travelling to a distant colony planet has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. It has an impressive Sci-Fi look, but that's mainly in a passive way, ie futuristic staircases, vases, etc. But as for something actually happening in the story, most of it is pretty sparse. The last quarter ends like what you would have thought most of the movie would've been like, so it does somewhat make you forget all the nothing happening stuff. 3.5
