In Case You Missed It. . .

What is it with the Kiwis and kids’ names?  I have previously discussed this at:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/search?q=talula 

The Sydney Morning Herald on 20 July 2011 had another article about the issue:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-devil-of-a-name-put-on-nz-banned-list-20110719-1hn3l.html#ixzz1SamDH6tJ

A devil of a name put on NZ banned list

Tamara McLean, Auckland

Naming your new bundle of joy Lucifer has been effectively banned by New Zealand's names registrar after three parents had the odd request knocked back.

The country's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has been cracking down on mothers and fathers getting too creative with their children's names, ruling out punctuation marks such as . (Full Stop), * (Asterisk) and / (presumably ''Slash'').

Movie Moments: #87

Terminator 2:  Judgment Day (1981)

Comment:

The best part of this movie is the opening sequence (see the link below)), although the Sarah Connor sequences and the scenes with the shape shifting metallic T-1000 Terminator are also memorable.  Plus the former Governor of California playing the good guy Terminator, whereas in T1 he was the bad guy Terminator.  Less kind people commented that Arnie playing a robot was inspired casting.

Synopsis:

It’s 11 years after T1.  John Connor, future leader of the human resistance is aged 10 and Mum is in jail.  The machines send another terminator back in time, this time to kill John Connor.  Who will save the day?  The human resistance sends back Arnie, this time to protect John.  All hell then breaks loose.

Quote:

John Connor: No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say "affirmative," or some shit like that. You say "no problemo." And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say "eat me."  And if you want to shine them on it's "hasta la vista, baby."

The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby.

John Connor: Yeah but later, dickwad. And if someone gets upset you say, "chill out"! Or you can do combinations.

The Terminator: Chill out, dickwad.

John Connor: reat! See, you're getting it!

The Terminator: No problemo.

Link:

Opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9YU0hQEZ5M

Trivia:

Given Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $15-million salary and his total of 700 words of dialogue, he was paid $21,429 per word. "Hasta la vista, baby" cost $85,716.

Quote: J Michael Straczynski

 

 

Never follow somebody else’s path; it doesn’t work the same way twice for anyone. . . the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way.

-           J Michael Straczynski

Joe Straczynski (1954 - ) is an American writer, television producer, playwright, a former journalist and author. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas, was the scriptwriter for Babylon 5 and nominated for a BAFTA for the screenplay of The Changeling.

Movie Moments: #86

RED (2010)

Comment:

A short while back I mentioned that I like chick flicks.  That may make me a SNAG, although I believe that that concept and acronym are no longer in use, or it may mean that I am in touch with my feminine side, as some put it.  It does not put me on the same plane as the guy in the Perfect Italiano ad (“Sometimes when I cook; I weep” and “I love to listen.  I love to hear the problems of your friends..and if there is no woman to listen to, I practise my listening face..”).  In fairness, I should point out that at the same time I love a good action movie, including those of Arnie, Sly and Bruce. RED (which stands for Retired, Extremely Dangerous) is a darn good action flick.  How can it not be when it has Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich in it.?

Synopsis:

A team of former black-ops agents, now RED, reunite when unknown assailants start hunting them down. for reasons nunknown to them,

Quote:

Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich): Why are you trying to kill me?

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis)): Look, why would I be trying to kill you?

Marvin Boggs: Because last time we met, I tried to kill you.

Frank Moses: That was a long time ago.

Marvin Boggs: Some people hold on to things like that.

Link:

Some scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFLX7Pk1Tn4&feature=related

Trivia:

Remember Ernest Borgnine from McHale’s Navy and The Dirty Dozen?  It turns out he’s still alive, looking good and acting, having a part in this movie.  He was born in on 24 January 1917, so he’s 94.

Marilyn Monroe and THAT Image . . .

The above statue of Marilyn Monroe in her famous billowing skirt pose from the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch has been unveiled in Chicago.  More of that later.

Back in 2008 a Sydney man was convicted of having child pornography on his computer, to wit, pictures of Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson from The Simpsons cartoon show having sex with another.  That is not to say that such acts were depicted in the TV show, rather it is part of readily available pornography which depicts various cartoon characters in pornographic situations.  The magistrate who convicted him fined him $3,000 and ordered him to enter into a good behaviour bond for each charge. He said that the defendant would have been jailed if the images had been of real children.

The defendant appealed, arguing that the cartoon figures did not accurately depict human figures and could not be considered to be real persons.

The New South Wales Supreme Court disagreed.  "If the persons were real, such depictions could never be permitted," Justice Adams said in his judgment. "Their creation would constitute crimes at the very highest end of the criminal calendar." He said that while the primary purpose of the legislation was to stop sexual exploitation and child abuse of "real" children, it was also designed to deter the production of other material that could "fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children".

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3da_1228799329

Now back to Marilyn.  The 26 foot/8 metre statue, complete with billowing skirt and 1950’s knickers, enables people to stand underneath and take photographs.

Movie Moments: #85

Ronin (1998)

Comment:

Robert De Niro + a tight script + one of the best car chases in film + a lot of action = a very watchable movie. 

Synopsis:

A young Irish woman recruits a team of mercenaries to steal a suitcase from a man preparing to sell it to the Russians. Double crosses and triple crosses have fatal results.

Quote:

Sam:  Either you're part of the problem or you're part of the solution or you're just part of the landscape.

Link:

The coffee cup ambush:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1MkjmbdHUM

Trivia:

Ronin is the term used for samurai who have no master and whose motivations are largely based on money and survival instead of honour and duty. Many of the characters in the film are unemployed agents set adrift by the end of the Cold War.

As in Pulp Fiction, the suitcase is a MacGuffin, an item that drives the story forward, but without the viewers ever finding out what was in either suitcase.

The chase through the Paris tunnel is not the tunnel in which Lady Diana was killed.

In Case You Missed It. . .

 “What I can't understand is why a fellow would want to get out of jail to get married, which is like a life sentence anyway.”

-       Barrister George Thomas, outside the Local Court, Burwood NSW, on 15 July 2011 after having obtained bail for Mostafa Jouayd, president of the Hell’s Angels’ Parramatta chapter, to enable Jouayd to attend his scheduled $32,000 wedding the next day. 

Jouayd and four others had been charged with demanding a BMW motor vehicle with menaces and with participating in a criminal group.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/hells-angel-gets-bail-day-before-wedding-20110715-1hgz1.html

Movie Moments: #84

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Comment:

One of the best court room dramas that you will ever see, plus a killer ending, well worth watching.  Still good despite being more than 50 years old.  Like me.

Synopsis:

Noted criminal defence barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts agrees to take on the defence of an American, Leonard Vole, who is charged with the murder of a rich older woman, Emily French.  The Crown alleges that Vole had caused French to become enamoured of him and to change her Will in his favour, then killed her.  Vole’s German wife, Christine, provides him with an alibi but then becomes a witness for the prosecution, stating that her husband admitting that he killed Emily French and that her conscience now requires her to tell the truth.  Watch it to learn the rest.

Quote:

Sir Wilfrid: Kings, prime ministers, archbishops, even barristers have stood in the dock.

Link:

Cross examination by Sir Wilfrid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd-9CSjyA7A

Trivia:

Charles Laughton, who plays Sir Wilfrid, and Elsa Lanchester, who plays the nurse Miss Plimsoll, were husband and wife in real life.

Marlene Dietrich was so sure that she would be nominated for an Oscar that she rewrote the opening to her Las Vegas act in anticipation.  She was not nominated and was crushed.

Movie Moments: #83

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Comment:

Yep, I know that this is a teen chick flick and that there are all sorts of reasons not to like it, but I do.  There, it’s out in the open.  And while we’re at it, I also like Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Love Actually and Notting Hill.  Hey, where are all you guys going?  Come back.

Synopsis:

Five students come together for detention at a high school, from 7.00am to 4.00pm.  Each is a stereotype:  The Brain, The Athlete, The basket Case, The Princess and the Criminal.  They appear to have nothing in common and have been set a task by the antagonistic Vice-principal: write a 1,000 word essay as to who each person thinks he or she is.

Quote:

Andrew: We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all.

Link:

Snippets from the movie, shown to Simple Minds’ Don”t You Forget About Me, a song which comes from the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_9sB92dJzM

Trivia:

·         Bender in Futurama is named after John Bender in this film.

·         "The clothing is all very layered, [and as the film progesses] they shed these layers; each layer is a little piece of the person." -- Marilyn Vance, costume designer

·         Writer and director of the film, John Hughes (1950-2009): "The most common question I'm asked is, 'What happened on Monday?' I used to say, 'Nothing.' But I think it's more complex than that. So complex that I can't do it in film. If I can finish it in prose, in a book, then the characters transcend the film."

Further comment:

An appropriate comment by someone in the response section of the above video clip:

“If the Breakfast Club took place in 2011, it would consist of nothing more than texting and mindless iphone smartphone occupancy. They'd wait out the 8 hours by staring at their cellphones and shunning human contact. 2011's awesome isnt it?”

The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894

Pyrmont Bridge, Sydney about 1904

 (Photo also used in last week's post.  Click on photo to enlarge).

The following article is lengthy but presents some interesting comments and observations, made all the more topical by the Government’s proposed carbon tax.

The Great Horse manure Crisis of 1894

The urban equine:

As readers will be aware from the previous post about block boys, aka sparrow starvers, the lads who who were employed by local councils in Sydney and suburbs to clean the streets of horse manure.  You can see a sparrow starver in the pic above, on the right on the kerb edge, white shirt and dark pants.

Until the advent of motor vehicles, the main form of transportation, whether of people or goods, was by horse.  By 1880 the horse population had reached problem levels.  The cities functioned on horse power, literally.  London (then the largest city in the world) in 1900 had 11,000 cabs, all drawn by horses.  There were also several thousand buses, each needing 12 horses per day.  There were also various carts, drays, wagons and buggies for the transportation of goods and persons.

Waste:

Reliance upon equine transportation produced unpleasant consequences in respect: urine, flies, congestion, carcasses, and traffic accidents.  The main problem, however, was manure.  A horse produces between 7 and 15 kilos of manure daily.  In New York in 1900, the population of 100,000 horses produced nearly 1,200 metric tons of horse manure per day, which all had to be swept up and disposed of. In addition, each horse produces nearly a litre of urine per day, which also ended up on the streets.

Funny Friday

(The following includes swearing).

A teacher addresses her primary school class:  “Class, the lesson now is spelling.  I would like each of you to stand up, tell me what you had for breakfast and then spell it.  Billy?” 

Billy stands and says “ I had bacon and eggs Miss, B-A-C-O-N, E-G-G-S.” “Good,” says the teacher, “Sally?”

Sally stands and says “I had toast, Miss, T-O-A-S-T.”  “Also good,” says the teacher, “Johnny?” 

Johnny gets to his feet and says “I didn’t have any fuckin’ breakfast, F-U-….”  Before he can finish the teacher cuts him short and soundly tells him off, then sends the children out to recess.

Over the break she thinks to herself that she may have been a little hard on Johnny, that maybe she should make it up to him when class resumes. She decides that she will ask him the first question when they return from recess.

After they are all seated again she says “Class, this lesson is geography.  Johnny, can you tell me where the Queensland border is?” 

Says Johnny “Well, when I left home this morning he was in bed with me Mum, that’s why I didn’t have any fuckin’ breakfast.” 

Movie Moments: #82

Labyrinth  (1986)

Comments:

A box office flop, returning only $12m on its $25m production costs, and a so-so movie as far as the critics were concerned.  Still, what do critics know about popularity and entertainment?  They acclaim Citizen Kane but no one watches it.  This movie, The Goblin King, is now a cult film for adults.  I love the scene with Hoggle spraying the fairies.

Synopsis:

Sarah works her way through a maze trying to retrieve her baby brother, Toby, who she has inadvertently consigned to Jareth, the Goblin King, during a moment of anger.

Quote:

Jareth: Hello, Hedgewart.

Sarah: Hogwart.

Hoggle: Hoggle!

Link:

Movie trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_xpFZe20A

The world’s hardest riddle (I've never understood it either):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dgmgub8mHw

Trivia

When Jareth is playing around with the crystal balls, the scenes are not done with special effects or CGI in that this predates CGI.  Instead, magician and choreographer Michael Moschen carried out the effects by crouching behind David Bowie and extending his arms in front of Bowie.  Moshen was unable to see and therefore did the hand movements with the crystal balls blind.

Quote: Henry van Dyke

"Use what talent you possess.  The world would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."

-  Henry van Dyke

Henry van Dyke (1852 - 1933) was an American author, educator and clergyman.  An opponent of America's annexation of the Philippines, as was proposed in 1898, he declared in that year: “If we enter the course of foreign conquest, the day is not far distant when we must spend in annual preparation for wars more than the $180,000,000 that we now spend every year in the education of our children for peace.”

Movie Moments: #81

How Green Was My Valley  (1941)

Comments: 

What a year for best Movie nominations:  Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Suspicion, Sergeant York and How Green Was My Valley, but the nod went to HGWMV.  This is the closest that you will come to a film being art in its beauty.  It is ironic that a movie that refers to a colour and nature should be filmed in black and white.  This was done because the colour of flowers in Southern California did not match those found in Wales.  WW2 and the bombing of London made filming in Wales too risky. Instead, a replica was made of the Welsh mining town in California.

Synopsis: 

The story of a humble but proud Welsh mining family, told through the eyes of the youngest son, Huw Morgan. Set at the turn of the century, the film tells of the various lives of the characters against a backdrop of a disintegrating family unit and the passing of an era. 

Quote: 

Huw Morgan: I am packing my belongings in the shawl my mother used to wear when she went to the market. And I'm going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return. I am leaving behind me my fifty years of memory. Memory. Strange that the mind will forget so much of what only this moment has passed, and yet hold clear and bright the memory of what happened years ago - of men and women long since dead. Yet who shall say what is real and what is not? Can I believe my friends all gone when their voices are still a glory in my ears? No. And I will stand to say no and no again, for they remain a living truth within my mind. There is no fence nor hedge round Time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember. So I can close my eyes on my Valley as it is today - and it is gone - and I see it as it was when I was a boy. Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the earth. In all Wales, there was none so beautiful.

Link:

Opening monologue of the above speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxu6I_5T-X4

Trivia: 

The author, Richard Llewellyn, continued the story about Huw Morgan's life in 3 sequels. 'Up into the Singing Mountain' (1960) in which Huw emigrates to Argentina; 'Down Where the Moon is Small' (1966), Huw's life in Welsh-speaking parts of Argentina; and 'Green, Green My Valley Now' (1975), in which Huw returns to Wales. None of these have been made into films, and 'How Green Was My Valley' is still the most consistently popular novel of the series.

Quote: Helena Fitzgerald

Thanks to social media, we are no longer obliged to disguise our voyeuristic impulses. Voyeurism has been culturally legitimized. We can turn to the real events of our lives as we have retold them and to the reactions they have prompted. On the internet, our personal lives have become our television shows. Rather than turn on the television to see if anything was happening in made-up people’s stories, we now switch on the internet to see if anything is happening with our own emotions.

- Helena Fitzgerald

Movie Moments: #80

Hoosiers (1986)

Comment:

If this movie doesn’t have you out of your seat and cheering at the end, then you must be made of stone.  Not only an inspirational tale of the underdog striving to win, it is also one of the best of both sports flicks and feel good movies.  If you have nothing to do this weekend or it’s a rainy stay indoors day, take the time to have a look at this flick.  It’s also loosely based on a real story.

Synopsis:

It is 1952 and Coach Norman Dale is given the task of coaching the small basketball team of a small Indiana high school.  Not only does he have to battle hostility from the local townspeople and a fellow teacher, he also has to battle hostility from the team.

Quote:

Opal Fleener: Sun don't shine on the same dog's ass everyday, but, mister you ain't seen a ray of light since you got here.

Link:

Opening credits and theme music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r74qegjbF28&feature=related

Trivia:

Sheb Woolley plays Cletus, the high school principal.  Woolley played the scout Pete Nolan in Rawhide, had a hit with Purple People Eater and is the voice behind the Wilhelm Scream, see:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com/2010/08/wilhelm-scream.html

Poster

Movie Moments: #79

Enemy Mine (1985)

Comment:

This movie was a financial disaster for 20^th Century Fox and was panned by the critics.  Nonetheless I like it.  The film’s message applies equally to our own present world but even apart from its message it is a good sci fi flick.

Synopsis:

A soldier stranded on an inhospitable planet finds that an alien enemy soldier is also stranded there.  They must cooperate to survive.

Quote:

Davidge: "If one receives evil from another, let one not do evil in return. Rather, let him extend love to the enemy, that love might unite them." I've heard all this before... in the human Taalmaan.
Jerry: Of course you have. Truth is truth.

Link:

Movie Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB87kN6UTLg

Trivia:

The whole film was originally shot in Iceland by original director Richard Loncraine.  When he clashed with the producers over "creative differences", he was dumped and the project was shut down. Wolfgang Petersen took over direction and reshot the whole film in Munich, changing the storyline in the process.

Rupert and The News

From Wikipedia:

News of the World:

The News of the World was a national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom by News Group Newspapers of News International, itself a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, and was the Sunday sister paper of The Sun. After 168 years in print, the last edition of the paper was published on 10 July 2011. The newspaper concentrated on celebrity-based scoops and populist news. Its fondness for sex scandals gained it the nicknames "News of the Screws" and "Screws of the World". It had a reputation for exposing national or local celebrities as drug users, sex freaks or criminals, setting up insiders and journalists in disguise to provide either video or photographic evidence, and phone hacking in ongoing police investigations. Sales averaged 2,812,005 copies per week in October 2010.  On 16 September 2010, it was announced that the online website of the paper would be placed behind a paywall.

The editor Andy Coulson resigned on 26 January 2007 over the royal phone tapping scandal.   He was succeeded by Colin Myer, a former editor of Sunday Mirror who had latterly worked at The New York Post.   Previous editors of the paper include Piers Morgan and Rebekah Wade, who replaced Phil Hall in 2000. On 7 July 2011, News International announced that the News of the World would be permanently closed that week, the last issue being produced on Sunday 10 July 2011. The closure was in response to the developing phone hacking scandal, after a private investigator allegedly hacked into the phone of murdered British teenager Milly Dowler, possibly interfering with the police investigation and causing distress to the girl's parents. The allegations led to a public backlash and the loss of advertising revenue, as a number of companies advertising with the paper pulled out pending an investigation. The scandal deepened when the paper was alleged to have hacked into the phones of families of soldiers killed in action. As a result of the scandal, James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, announced on 7 July 2011 that the 10 July 2011 edition of the paper would be the last.

On 8 July 2011 former editor Andy Coulson was arrested by police investigating phone hacking and corruption allegations. On the same day ex-NoW royal editor  Clive Goodman, jailed for phone hacking in 2007, was also arrested over similar corruption claims.

_______________________________________________

From Wikipedia:

Rupert Murdoch: 

Beginning with one newspaper in Adelaide, Murdoch acquired and started other publications in his native Australia before expanding News Corp into the United Kingdom, United States and Asian media markets. Although it was in Australia in the late 1950s that he first dabbled in television, he later sold these assets, and News Corp's Australian current media interests (still mainly in print) are restricted by cross-media ownership rules. Murdoch's first permanent foray into TV was in the USA, where he created Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986. In the 2000s, he became a leading investor in satellite television, the film industry and the Internet, and purchased a leading American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal..

Rupert Murdoch was listed three times in the Time 100 as among the most influential people in the world. He is ranked 13th most powerful person in the world in the 2010 Forbes; ' The World's Most Powerful People list. With a net worth of US$6.3 billion, he is ranked 117th wealthiest person in the world.

_______________________________________________

Movie Moments: #78

12 Monkeys (1995)

Comment:

Despite the problem of  what is known as the Grandfather Paradox - that if a person travelled back in time and killed his own grandfather  before the time traveller’s father had been conceived, thereby making it impossible to have been born and also to travel back in time – I like time travel movies.  This is one of the better ones with solid performances by Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.  If you like better than average sci fi, this is worth a look.

Synopsis:

As a result of a lethal virus, most of the world’s population has been wiped out.  Those who survive live underground.  James Cole, a convict, is sent back in time to gather information on the release of the virus by The Army of the 12 Monkeys and before it mutates to develop a means of preventing it happening.

Blockboys/Sparrowstarvers

Pyrmont Bridge c 1904
(Click on the images to enlarge)

Until the advent of the motor vehicle, the principal means of transportation, whether of people or goods, was by horse.  Cabs, buses, carts and drays were all horse drawn.  This presented a problem: manure. 

Local Councils needed to clear the manure not only for health reasons, but also to keep the traffic moving. 

Sydney’s streets were washed down daily with water and disinfectant, which also assisted in keeping down the dust.

In the 1870’s, Sydney City Council made a profit on disposal of manure, selling it for 10 shillings ($1) per load.  In contrast, a labourer could be hired for 7 shillings (70 cents) per day.  By the 1890’s, the Council’s employment of adult males for such purpose had given way to the employment of young boys who darted in and out of the traffic shovelling up the manure and depositing it in containers.

Officially the boys were called “block boys”.  Unofficially they were known as “sparrow starvers”.

Movie Moments: #77

High Noon (1952)

Comment:

Not only a good western and a good film generally, although it remains hated by rednecks even today, it is also interesting in a number of respects:

·       Gary Cooper was nearly 30 years older than his love interest.

·       The love interest was Grace Kelly, to become Princess Grace of Monaco.

·       The film was released whilst the McCarthy Communist witch hunts were in progress and after the Korean War had begun.

·       Screenwriter Carl Foreman was blacklisted by Hollywood for refusing to cooperate with the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  He refused to name names and pleaded his Fifth Amendment rights.

·       The film was a disappointment to many at the time because it lacked open spaces and western landscapes, action scenes and violence as were normally depicted in westerns.  Instead, it focused on emotions, message and dialogue, with action at the end.

·       Bill Clinton cited this as his favourite film and screened it a record 17 times when he was President.

·      The film was a comment on the failure of Hollywood personnel to stand up to the HUAC, McCarthy and to the blacklisting of 300 of its own.

Synopsis:

A sheriff, Will Kane, newly married to a pacifist Quaker and retiring that day, learns that Frank Miller, a man he jailed and who threatened to come back to kill him, is coming in on the noon train.  Three of Miller’s friends are at the station to meet him.  When he seeks assistance he is shunned by the townspeople and by his new bride.   

Quote:

Judge: This is just a dirty little village in the middle of nowhere. Nothing that happens here is really important.