Question:
How do you get rid of a pain in the back? Is it as easy as candy from a babe, or as tough as removing the proverbial monkey from the same body part....it's all relative I suppose, but still.....
Most will know that as a result of certain events, I have been having small difficulties with my lower back, and was seeing a physio/osteopath for the later part of last year...lots of explaining and exercises that made me look like a cat having sex in slow motion....
So I've had some more problems, and possibly through a Guilt pang, my guy in the 'trade' decided last week to bring out the fancy toys to appease me...and after getting an ultrasound for the areas in which I had the issue (cue the silly pregnancy joke i made that he NEVER heard before), he brought out a 12 inch knitting needle and jabbed it into my back...
Ok, so a little exaggeration, but it was basically a large acupuncture needle...that after finding the deeply located muscle (deeply as it its attached directly to my spine, on the inside),and jabbing it in to said spot....he flicked it.
Now I'm not so sure about all of you, but this slightly distressed me...especially when he gave no warning of what he was going to do....is flicking a medical method, that people are trained to do in college, with the correct style and pressure,and given marks on.. or is it just showing off; a physiotherapists version of pulling a wheelie.......but low and behold, all better, it reset the muscle and I have been (touch all the great Sequoia in Canada) all clear since....
So if a man flicks a needle in your direction, pay him due homage, but maybe try and get out of being charged $100 for his sadistic 'jollies'
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
All Change.../ 'Watchmen' review
So the blog gets a new name, I have a new job, and I deliver a promise to deal more niceties and less expletives towards the general public on a more regular occasion...
Todays Ravings:- Watchmen
Right, so I have read the Original Series, but had not memorized it, nor re-named my children appropriate monikers from the several characters....How does the tale of the 'Big Blue Pipe' fare on the big screen?
A deserved 'meh'.
Begining very pointedly, with a great use of opening sequence to get a lot of exposition dealt with, Watchmen is brave and full of ambition for trying to capture one of the most dense works in Comic History, and also, we need to remember, that almost consistently deals with its 'heroes' with a dour and vindictive hatred. Moore never liked these people, he only sees their flaws, never their potential.The film makes sure you never get the chance to either.
In ambition and scope, we have the films only saving graces. Hard to swallow, difficult to align with anyones emotional state, and badly structured, director Snyder has managed certain parts well (Rorschach being intact is one, but even still that is mostly down to Jackie Hayley for his thrilling out of mask performance). However, lines/whole passages of Moore's fantastic dialogue are thrown away by a combination of bad, mumbly acting,being overpowered by a very loud sound effect/poorly chose song, or simply that the piece of prose is trying to get out of the way of the next large explosion or blue naked appendage.
My biggest complaint...? The Watchmen here are treated like heroes..in the book, the action set pieces had the dialogue to counteract the heroic actions, reminding that these people were only ever 'heroes' by their own beliefs/necessities, not anyone else's.... So we get the cool looking, slowed down action sequences of people doing amazing things in flash rubber costumes. Which is what the source is trying to rally against.
A failed experiment (possibly from the start), the film is not horrifically bad, as some have burnt into it already (how quickly we all forget 'Ghost Rider'!), but it's soon to be released over 4 hour re-cut can only add to it's already uneven pacing, and Bargain Bin destination.
JK
Todays Ravings:- Watchmen
Right, so I have read the Original Series, but had not memorized it, nor re-named my children appropriate monikers from the several characters....How does the tale of the 'Big Blue Pipe' fare on the big screen?
A deserved 'meh'.
Begining very pointedly, with a great use of opening sequence to get a lot of exposition dealt with, Watchmen is brave and full of ambition for trying to capture one of the most dense works in Comic History, and also, we need to remember, that almost consistently deals with its 'heroes' with a dour and vindictive hatred. Moore never liked these people, he only sees their flaws, never their potential.The film makes sure you never get the chance to either.
In ambition and scope, we have the films only saving graces. Hard to swallow, difficult to align with anyones emotional state, and badly structured, director Snyder has managed certain parts well (Rorschach being intact is one, but even still that is mostly down to Jackie Hayley for his thrilling out of mask performance). However, lines/whole passages of Moore's fantastic dialogue are thrown away by a combination of bad, mumbly acting,being overpowered by a very loud sound effect/poorly chose song, or simply that the piece of prose is trying to get out of the way of the next large explosion or blue naked appendage.
My biggest complaint...? The Watchmen here are treated like heroes..in the book, the action set pieces had the dialogue to counteract the heroic actions, reminding that these people were only ever 'heroes' by their own beliefs/necessities, not anyone else's.... So we get the cool looking, slowed down action sequences of people doing amazing things in flash rubber costumes. Which is what the source is trying to rally against.
A failed experiment (possibly from the start), the film is not horrifically bad, as some have burnt into it already (how quickly we all forget 'Ghost Rider'!), but it's soon to be released over 4 hour re-cut can only add to it's already uneven pacing, and Bargain Bin destination.
JK
Monday, March 2, 2009
Me and my Couch...
A quick Blog note on the happy relationship that a man can have with his Couch, and the many ways complete friendships can be ruined by sitting incorrectly, or even worse, letting a particularly spicy curry/chili come between you and your sitting utensil....
or just something for me to write up, as I am so very bored with this unemployment game.... We are both well, and sticking our heads firmly in the ground for fear of having to look at bank account balances. Their have been small things to keep us busy; Surprise 30th birthdays for mates here, playing soccer in the evenings (that was amusing to watch) and stealing as many TV shows as possible from D'Internets...and then not watching them.
So as not to have completely wasted all your individual times with some slap-flappery, please let me present the funniest thing I have seen in ages....
Here Cookie Fun!!
Bye Bye..
J
or just something for me to write up, as I am so very bored with this unemployment game.... We are both well, and sticking our heads firmly in the ground for fear of having to look at bank account balances. Their have been small things to keep us busy; Surprise 30th birthdays for mates here, playing soccer in the evenings (that was amusing to watch) and stealing as many TV shows as possible from D'Internets...and then not watching them.
So as not to have completely wasted all your individual times with some slap-flappery, please let me present the funniest thing I have seen in ages....
Here Cookie Fun!!
Bye Bye..
J
Thursday, January 29, 2009
'Fun-Time': Gig 3 and Gig 4....and 5.
So, 'more of the same?' I hear you all whinge.... yes, yes, an emphatic YES!.
I will continue to bore you about personal details, as there is only so much of my crap that Facebook Chat can take (I think this may be the reason the new one is so remarkably bollox...too much shite)...
This week, a tale of three Festivals, three venues and three very different type's of music fan... (all photos on my Facebook)
All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, Cockatoo Island, Sydney.
A Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Curated One day festival, with Spiritualized and a bunch of people I'd only ever heard whispered about on Pitchfork??? Count me in, I said...throwing down some hefty dollars for tickets...indeed, the steep cost and the rubbish food nearly scuppered the ATP (only 3k people turned up to the two-day version in Melbourne...but that WAS up the side of a mountain in the middle of fucking no-where).
Where to start...I've already placed a lot of pictures on Facebook here, with descriptions, so I won't repeat...but the setting was some sort of ex-prison complex for Irish 'bad-people', mixed with the Industrial Zone from the 'Crystal Maze'...all scary warehouses and stone/cement outhouses...A lot of the bands were equally scary.. Beaches, The Stabs and the amazing Afrirampo all brought the noise (and certainly the headliners were full of 'Drunken Uncle at a Wedding' libido and sleaze...) Pop sensibilities were equally catered to: Ex-Go Between Robert Foster was very 'gentle and sway', and Spiritualized and Dead Meadows brought chilled out vibes and Southern Rock Boogie in buckets...and the headliners themselves, who seemed quite inebriated and all the more glorious for it, tore through a great mix of old and new..(and a glorious version of Love-Letter)
Best one day fest since Radiohead in Galway in (gulp!) 1996? Yes.
Big Day Out, Olympic Park, Sydney.
You see all the moaning we do about idiot 14 year olds setting fire to tents and giving us dirty sideway looks at Oxegen every year, while we cower behind our bottles of Shiraz at Electric Picnic? See all the crying about the beer queues and the shit food and the shite sound and the men pissing everywhere they can, just because they can? Just come to a 'Big Day Out' and see the nadir of 'ripping kids off is easy/Lets hit someone' in it's most pure evil form.
Yes, there were good things...Neil Young with a perfectly pitched greatest hits set in front of a small but appreciative crowd (he played 'Old Man' and 'Needle and the Damage Done' :) ), the lines for beer were not as bad as I whimpered about earlier and the Drones, My Morning Jacket and TV on the Radio were a great middle of the day threesome.....
...but the sound in the main/any area was atrocious unless you were standing right in front of either of the stages, the crowds were impossible to hack through and the atmosphere was of a piss poor nature (and when did the Arctic Monkeys get so good that they could care so little and SLEEPWALK through a set?).And they closed off the Prodigy in a warehouse and wouldn't let more than 10 people in. And Bogan Glory was well in effect. Scary...
and this was a 'quiet one'?
A Day on the Green presents Leonard Cohen; Bimgarden Wine Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW.
My first ever 'Sit-Down, Outside' gig. Impeccably ran, great food, the best outdoor sound I have ever heard,and painless to get in and out of.It was held in a Winery, so bottles of the stuff was everywhere. Stunning view, nice friendly people...all-in all conclusive proof that I am now 53 (the average age of attendees) and need to hand in my 'Concert Pass' for a zimmerframe.
and Leonard Cohen... How MutherF***ing cool is Leonard Cohen. He's 74 but he skips on and off the stage all night.... He plays for 3 hours (not including a 20 min break) and does 5 encores. He managed to make all the misguided disco-themed stuff from his '80's record sound decent....and he is the most gracious performer I have ever seen (with some of the most lovely backing singers I have ever seen). Bowie gig in 2003 only beats this because I'm more familiar with the White Dukes career.
Which I will amend quite quickly.
Legend.
I will continue to bore you about personal details, as there is only so much of my crap that Facebook Chat can take (I think this may be the reason the new one is so remarkably bollox...too much shite)...
This week, a tale of three Festivals, three venues and three very different type's of music fan... (all photos on my Facebook)
All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, Cockatoo Island, Sydney.
A Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Curated One day festival, with Spiritualized and a bunch of people I'd only ever heard whispered about on Pitchfork??? Count me in, I said...throwing down some hefty dollars for tickets...indeed, the steep cost and the rubbish food nearly scuppered the ATP (only 3k people turned up to the two-day version in Melbourne...but that WAS up the side of a mountain in the middle of fucking no-where).
Where to start...I've already placed a lot of pictures on Facebook here, with descriptions, so I won't repeat...but the setting was some sort of ex-prison complex for Irish 'bad-people', mixed with the Industrial Zone from the 'Crystal Maze'...all scary warehouses and stone/cement outhouses...A lot of the bands were equally scary.. Beaches, The Stabs and the amazing Afrirampo all brought the noise (and certainly the headliners were full of 'Drunken Uncle at a Wedding' libido and sleaze...) Pop sensibilities were equally catered to: Ex-Go Between Robert Foster was very 'gentle and sway', and Spiritualized and Dead Meadows brought chilled out vibes and Southern Rock Boogie in buckets...and the headliners themselves, who seemed quite inebriated and all the more glorious for it, tore through a great mix of old and new..(and a glorious version of Love-Letter)
Best one day fest since Radiohead in Galway in (gulp!) 1996? Yes.
Big Day Out, Olympic Park, Sydney.
You see all the moaning we do about idiot 14 year olds setting fire to tents and giving us dirty sideway looks at Oxegen every year, while we cower behind our bottles of Shiraz at Electric Picnic? See all the crying about the beer queues and the shit food and the shite sound and the men pissing everywhere they can, just because they can? Just come to a 'Big Day Out' and see the nadir of 'ripping kids off is easy/Lets hit someone' in it's most pure evil form.
Yes, there were good things...Neil Young with a perfectly pitched greatest hits set in front of a small but appreciative crowd (he played 'Old Man' and 'Needle and the Damage Done' :) ), the lines for beer were not as bad as I whimpered about earlier and the Drones, My Morning Jacket and TV on the Radio were a great middle of the day threesome.....
...but the sound in the main/any area was atrocious unless you were standing right in front of either of the stages, the crowds were impossible to hack through and the atmosphere was of a piss poor nature (and when did the Arctic Monkeys get so good that they could care so little and SLEEPWALK through a set?).And they closed off the Prodigy in a warehouse and wouldn't let more than 10 people in. And Bogan Glory was well in effect. Scary...
and this was a 'quiet one'?
A Day on the Green presents Leonard Cohen; Bimgarden Wine Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW.
My first ever 'Sit-Down, Outside' gig. Impeccably ran, great food, the best outdoor sound I have ever heard,and painless to get in and out of.It was held in a Winery, so bottles of the stuff was everywhere. Stunning view, nice friendly people...all-in all conclusive proof that I am now 53 (the average age of attendees) and need to hand in my 'Concert Pass' for a zimmerframe.
and Leonard Cohen... How MutherF***ing cool is Leonard Cohen. He's 74 but he skips on and off the stage all night.... He plays for 3 hours (not including a 20 min break) and does 5 encores. He managed to make all the misguided disco-themed stuff from his '80's record sound decent....and he is the most gracious performer I have ever seen (with some of the most lovely backing singers I have ever seen). Bowie gig in 2003 only beats this because I'm more familiar with the White Dukes career.
Which I will amend quite quickly.
Legend.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Janurary Fun Time: Gig 1 and 2
Well Folks..
As we wander through the valley, and I get off my ass and try to get a job, we get to January and finally, with our new Visa's all sorted...we hit all those gigs we bought tickets for what seems like 6 months ago.
So here are some personal lovely reviews etc of out musical odyssey that begins 2009...
Jamie Lidell: - The Forum, Fri 9th of Jan. (images below from fasterlouder.com.au)
Mr Liddell and his crazy crew of near pension age session players jammed out the Forum in Fox Studios on this Friday night; and after practically sitting beside the man himself, as we ate in the same establishment beforehand, there was no way of knowing just how great the gig would be later on.
There need have been no worry, as the band and Mr Lidell sprung into summer as a very flower themed set glowed around them. Hitting songs from both albums, and also taking us on an extended solo vocal performance through his effects table, Mr Lidell was in fine form throughout as the crowd danced and boogied their way through into the night. Finishing at close to 12 midnight with debut album stomp 'Multiply', the evening should prove an excellent start to musical fun!
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Sydney Festival First Night, Sat 10th of Jan:-
Similarly the following night, in amongst such stellar co-acts as Grace Jones and Santogold (all for free, i'll remind), the 'Godmother of Soul' was in fine form... At 52 years old, and dancing for every second, Sharon Jones and the god-awfully tight Dap Kings gave all they have rightfully earned over their last 10 years. Dragging people on stage, some more successful at participating than others, Miss Jones runs her gig as old as school can get; the songs, most coming from their latest album, sound so familiar they fit the 'revue' show style they are presented in, and as she blisters the stage in bare feet, there is not one onlooker left not swaying or nodding their heads once the plus 1.5hr set finishes with '100 Days, 100 Nights'. Free entertainment has a lot to live up to after this.
(link here for their headline gig at the Becks Festival Bar, again from fasterlouder, the night after to give some idea of their funkiness..)
Next week - Dark Tales from an Island of Birds : Full review of All Tomorrow's Parties at Cockatoo Island: Curated and featuring Nick Cave and the Bad seeds......
As we wander through the valley, and I get off my ass and try to get a job, we get to January and finally, with our new Visa's all sorted...we hit all those gigs we bought tickets for what seems like 6 months ago.
So here are some personal lovely reviews etc of out musical odyssey that begins 2009...
Jamie Lidell: - The Forum, Fri 9th of Jan. (images below from fasterlouder.com.au)
Mr Liddell and his crazy crew of near pension age session players jammed out the Forum in Fox Studios on this Friday night; and after practically sitting beside the man himself, as we ate in the same establishment beforehand, there was no way of knowing just how great the gig would be later on.
There need have been no worry, as the band and Mr Lidell sprung into summer as a very flower themed set glowed around them. Hitting songs from both albums, and also taking us on an extended solo vocal performance through his effects table, Mr Lidell was in fine form throughout as the crowd danced and boogied their way through into the night. Finishing at close to 12 midnight with debut album stomp 'Multiply', the evening should prove an excellent start to musical fun!
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Sydney Festival First Night, Sat 10th of Jan:-
Similarly the following night, in amongst such stellar co-acts as Grace Jones and Santogold (all for free, i'll remind), the 'Godmother of Soul' was in fine form... At 52 years old, and dancing for every second, Sharon Jones and the god-awfully tight Dap Kings gave all they have rightfully earned over their last 10 years. Dragging people on stage, some more successful at participating than others, Miss Jones runs her gig as old as school can get; the songs, most coming from their latest album, sound so familiar they fit the 'revue' show style they are presented in, and as she blisters the stage in bare feet, there is not one onlooker left not swaying or nodding their heads once the plus 1.5hr set finishes with '100 Days, 100 Nights'. Free entertainment has a lot to live up to after this.
(link here for their headline gig at the Becks Festival Bar, again from fasterlouder, the night after to give some idea of their funkiness..)
Next week - Dark Tales from an Island of Birds : Full review of All Tomorrow's Parties at Cockatoo Island: Curated and featuring Nick Cave and the Bad seeds......
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