Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Pearl Jam to play Newcastle Ent Centre!!


Having caught Pearl Jam on their last trip to Oz [stunningly brilliant!!] I was content to not make the drive down the F3 one more time later this year... then comes news that three Newcastle punters petition has been successful and the boys will play Newcastle for the first time!! Pity about the barn-like sound of the Entertainment Centre BUT it is definitely good for local fans!!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The YOU Tube FLIPSIDE !!


Tassie YouTube star calls it quits

Louisa Hearn SMH
August 28, 2006

"Emmalina, an 18-year-old YouTube hit from Tassie, has bowed out of internet stardom
for good after her computer was hacked and her privacy invaded, sparking fears
for her own safety.
The chatty video blog entries recorded from her bedroom first began to appear
in the "most viewed" rankings on the popular YouTube video in June and some
of her more controversial posts attracted more than 300,000 views. She even
has her own Wikipedia entry.
Emmalina's video blog, however, came to an abrupt end earlier this month when
she stripped her profile and all of her video content from YouTube. The explanation
for this, written on YouTubetalk, was that someone had hacked into her computer
and obtained recent pictures and videos from it that had never been posted online
as well as "incredibly private files".
Although she operated under a pseudonym, another determined follower had
uncovered her personal details and circulated them online.
Emmalina declined to be interviewed by us this week because she said things
had already got way out of control.
"People forget that I'm a real, normal young girl with a life, feelings and a right
to privacy," she said.
Her spectacular rise to internet fame gave rise to a multitude of YouTube
dedications, spin-offs and spoofs, as well as a rap song dedicated to her popularity.
But, as many new-found celebrities discover, along with the adoring fans came
the critics and the creeps - a fact that Emmalina admitted to us, in an interview in
June, that she was struggling to accept.
She said at the time: "When you put something on the internet, it's there for
everyone to see. But the nasty comments are pretty discouraging and you do
get a lot of them."
Max Markson, managing director of celebrity agency, Markson Sparks, warned
that the openness of the internet represented a double edged sword for those
seeking notoriety.
"If you put yourself out there on YouTube or MySpace you are moving into
open area and giving your privacy away. If all of a sudden fame comes upon you,
all the negatives as well as the positives come with it," he said.
Part of Emmalina's appeal was her lack of pretension and the witty, self
deprecating captions that she dotted throughout her video blog. Although
her focus was on everyday and sometimes mundane topics ranging from
her pet guinea pigs to her interest in yoga, her occasional raunchy dance
routines often ranked highly among viewer ratings and attracted a lot of
public commentary.
In some of her most highly viewed posts, she boldly took some of her
critics to task, chiding the email responses to her videos from those she
described as "haters" and chastising the "creepy old men" who posted l
ewd messages on her own and other YouTube videos featuring young
women.
However things eventually became too much for Emmalina and she
claims there was no choice but to leave YouTube once her personal
privacy and security had been breached.
"Every day I logged in and discovered more and more cruel spoofs,
harassing videos, death and rape threats, incredibly nasty comments
and God knows what else. I can't take it anymore. YouTube 'popularity'
is hell unless you're a f---ing saint with nothing to hide, or you have
indestructible confidence," she wrote in her last post on YouTubetalk."

Monday, August 28, 2006

YOU Tube Guitar Whiz!!

From colleague Bruce Mullan...

The YouTube mystery guitar whiz.
Another YouTube star, with over 7.5 million hits already.
An anonymous guitar whiz playing "an exceedingly difficult rock
arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon". But who is it?

The NYTimes<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/arts/television/27heff.html
reveals his name (Jeong-Hyun Lim) and reports on the background to the
arrangement of "the great one-hit wonder of the baroque period".

See the video first <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Worship Unplugged # 37 Lollies

This is probably listed amongst the first 20 or 30 Unplugged's BUT a plastic tub of lollies used as part of the invitation or call to worship goes a long way towards settings an informal and friendly atmosphere and beginning for worship!!
I recommend: party mix, snakes, milk bottles, fredo frongs and jaffas all mixed in...

Keep them handy or keep them circulating!!

Friday, August 25, 2006

YOU Tube


Up there with MySpace.... Since last mentioned here YOU Tube has taken off as a crazy space for uploading all kinds of personal or captured videos... including the old guy recently made famous by his musings and whinges each week!!

Here is the Chaser take on Hillsong as an example...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAWPcbTw8k

Of course I can't vouch for all the content!!
Pop culture that is impacting free to air and pay TV future...
because YOU can choose what you watch on the Tube!!

Row M Seat 30 "Snakes on a Plane"


Just like asking for a lilac lightsabre... Samuel Jackson signed up for this film based solely on the title... if you believe the media hype that is!!

It's generating spoof posters, sequel titles and will no doubt find its way into "Scary Movie 8"

More once I've seen it of course!!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

SIM SWEATSHOP


http://www.simsweatshop.com/

Jonny Baker came across this site that would be of interest to supporters of fairwear or anyone wanting to end the injustice of sweatshop footwaer and clothing production!!

Not a bad virtual intoroduction to the issues and the plight of many people across the globe!!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Music


At the risk of repeating myself here's a list or songs I'm enjoying as well as finding useful in worship, reflections, as backing or playlist tracks...

Diesel 'coathanger antennae'
Kasey Chambers 'Nothing At All'
Shane Nicholson 'I Know What You Want'
Alex Lloyd 'Sometimes'
Missy Higgins 'Sound of White'
Bob Evans 'Don't You Think It's Time'
Eskimo Joe
Youth Group

Geez... I miss the Oils...

Oh well, Powderfinger are going back to the studio later this year and Silverchair have done the hard work.... there's hope yet...

Row M Seat 30 "Boytown"


Not released until 19th October you can't miss the pre-publicity for Mick Molloy's new film "Boytown." It's a story about the reformation of an 80s boy band attempting to revive their success!! Mick and his brother Richard have a pretty good track record of funny films [if a little stereotypical]...
Glen Robbins is reportedly great in this flick!! [as ever]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472615/

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

"Sunshine to Rain" Dragon Liberation Blues Acoustic Series


Today I picked up a copy [recent CD embargo broken] of the Liberation Series latest from Dragon with the very capable Mark Williams singing for the late and lamented Marc Hunter!!

It's brilliant... at rendering these Dragon classics
at breathing new life into some inspired lyrics
at reminding me of my angst driven and simpler days in late High School and early work and part time Uni years!!
Confusion over who I wanted to snog, spend time with, have as a friend [as if in rewriting history it were only up to me] time on our hands, lazy days listening to vinyl on turntable and a memorable Civic Park Mattara Concert!!

Plus the ill fated foray into Dragon of Tommy Emanuel who fitted "like a fish on a bicycle" and the ego of Alan Mansfield and his Toto inspired keyboard dominance of their last couple of half decent recordings!!
I was and am an unashamed Dragon fan... including their the heady days of drink, drugs and appearances on "Countdown"...

Tracks
1 Sunshine
2 Speak No Evil
3 April Sun In Cuba
4 Are You Old Enough?
5 Body & The Beat
6 Wilder World
7 Still In Love
8 Dreams Of Ordinary Men
9 Get That Jive
10 Magic
11 Age Of Reason (Marc Hunter & Bella Hunter) A REDEEMING VERSION THAT'LL GET A RUN WITH ME IN MY RARITIES AND GREAT TRACKS ELECTIVE COMING TO A CONVENTION NEAR YOU!! AND MAYBE EVEN A BIG SCREEN WORSHIP SOMEWHERE!!
12 Promises
13 This Time
14 Young Years
15 Celebrate
16 Rain
17 Age Of Reason (Hidden)

While Michael Gudinski invented this idea out of the necessity of a shrinking CD market, it has been a masterstroke and has enlivened the careers of a number of performers and bands as featured on http://www.acousticseries.com.au/FrontPage.htm

Michael Spiby, Jenny Morris, and Choirboys have recently toured with Dragon to promote releases from all the above!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Gotta Love Prince Harry


Well, as you know I include lots of pop culture stories here... far from a gratuitous pic its all about the generational differences between the post modern era and what went on behind closed doors in previous generations!!

In other words, this could be a picture from a party anywhere last weekend and also be a completely harmless snapshot in time of two friends sharing some fun... and yes it could also be inappropraite drunken behaviour...

Even better still the picture could be 3 years old and cause the Palace to issue a demand for an apology that the story misrepresented the truth. Again there used to be a time where people in public life had their privacy respected if not covered up... we live in interesting times!!

Joey Johns suffers Daily Telegraph Tall Poppy Syndrome


Make no mistake:
  • Andrew Johns shouldn't have been swearing when the match officials missed the knock on this weekend vs Manly
  • Coach Michael Hagan should have been more circumspect
  • The Club should have been more firm when Johns ditched the ball presentation a few weeks ago against the Eels

BUT

This negative publicity about him started way back when he decided to pick and choose the International Games he could play and toyed with and finally stuck to Origin retirement. The newspaper made editorial decisions about how to handle this particular player and have been riding every headline since!!

You can't be "the games best player ever" for long in this country without the blowtorch being eventually applied... BUT here's the rub...

What does this current treatment have to do with Andrew Johns rescue package to keep him in the NRL instaed of switching to Rugby Union and playing for the Waratahs...

The rescue was a Nine/Packer initiated series of promises... involving future media opportunities!!

News Ltd have a long memory and it hasn't taken much for Joeys media to be fairly negative...

Just as his earlier punctured lung was blown out of all proportion SO TOO is this swearing story... it happens throughout any game and is directed at officials, players, thin air, etc etc..

It'd be all a bit ho hum except its true that the Knights are pretty much gone without him at this late stage of the year!!

Well, the reverse spin was action today as friends and family rue the possibility that if rubbed out Joey will head to Warrington in England to play and now the Appeal against the severity of the charge is in ans we;ll kill a lot of trees reading about it all in the next three or four days!!

David Tench Tonight


"Zapruder's Other Films" presents arguably the worlds first animated talk show host this Thursday on Oz TV on TEN at 8.30pm!!
Lots of sites, blogs, critics etc have expressed mixed feelings so it'll be interesting to see if this works here... if he displays Andrew Denton's deft touch and questioning style it'll work but if Denton's role is more distant then the jury is still out... guess we'll all see...

Meaningful Soles



Inspired by Paul Hobbs "Holy Ground"
www.cms-uk.org/news/2005/art_and_sole_240805.htm
We have begun the task of inviting nearly thirty people from across the globe to donate a pair of shoes and to share their story for a worship intsallation [a little more secular than Paul's].
I have a copy of Paul Hobbs resource to loan groups or people [CD ROM and stories] and hope to have "Meaningful Soles" set up in a few months!!

What do I mean?
We have invited nearly thirty people to donate a pair of shoes and to tell the story of how those shoes represent something of their spirituality, values, faith?

We will design a space and installation to display the shoes and their stories under the banner of "Meaningful Soles"

Stay tuned for updates on who responds and what they have to say!!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Triple J Unearthed


Triple J seeks next Missy on the net
SMH August 10, 2006 - 1:12PM

The ABC has injected new life into its Triple J Unearthed radio talent quest to find the music stars of the future.
The public broadcaster is looking for the next Missy Higgins, Ella Hooper or Grinspoon - all of whom were discovered by the radio station.
It has launched a new website for the program, http://www.triplejunearthed.com/, in the hope of reaching people in all parts of Australia, from the city to the bush.
"Unearthed has been one of the best initiatives the station has come up with over its three-decade existence," Triple J music director Richard Kingsmill said, adding that some of Australia's top artists were found through the quest.
"It's been a terrific vehicle for us to discover fresh talent, but it's also given many the chance of expressing their music and having that aired across the nation."
Unknown independent musicians will be encouraged to upload their music and profiles, with Triple J listeners able to review the songs.
There is no set competition, but there will be a series of opportunities for talent to be discovered.
One musical act will be selected to perform at Sydney's Homebake outdoor festival in December, while others will win the opportunity to take part in songwriting workshops, professional recording sessions, and the chance to have their music played on Triple J.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Final Piece of U2 Puzzle is in Place


It's TRUE... U2 will perform in Sydney on November 13th in a totally newly scheduled concert with tickets on sale August 11th !!