Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The Queen

The London Girl and I attended a special test screening of The Queen last night.
It's a yet-to-be-released film about the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II & Tony Blair during the political fall out of the death of Diana.

What we saw was a film still in post-production, and at the end we had to fill out a form.

The London Girl is connected up to her pretty ears!

Anyway, REMEMBER LAST OCTOBER WHEN I SPOTTED ACTOR JAMES CROMWELL? Well he was in it. Thats why he was in London last year.

SCOOP!

Also, without much fanfare, I shaved the beard again. The weather is warmer so I needed the extra facial protection not. I have more wrinkles on my face then last time I shaved.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Further PROOF!


LOOK at the NAMES of the tracks from the Conan soundtrack:

1. Anvil Of Crom
2. Riddle Of Steel/Riders Of Doom
3. Gift Of Fury
4. Wheel Of Pain
5. Atlantean Sword
6. Theology/Civilization
7. Wifeing (Theme Of Love From 'Conan The Barbarian')
8. The Leaving/The Search
9. Mountain Of Power Procession
10. The Tree Of Woe
11. Recovery
12. The Kitchen/The Orgy
13. Funeral Pyre
14. Battle Of The Mounds
15. Death Of Rexor
16. Orphans Of Doom/The Awakening

LOOK AT THEM!!!

Is this TRULY not the greatest soundtrack??

Fine men

Did you know that The Hoodoo Guru's have a song called "Gene Hackman"?
It is about the actor.

"He can be anything that he wants,
Gene Hackman- what a guy,
He can bring a tear to your eye,
What a guy,
Gene Hackman..."

And on it goes...


ALSO when I was in New York last year and enjoying the hospitality of C-Man, we did a bit of music swapping.
He made a folder on my I.River called "Christian is a fine man". Alot of celtic folk/punk, hip-hop, cowboy and Nick Cave tracks.
I'm still digesting all the various hip-hop and came across 2 tracks yesterday that I hadn't listened to. I've got a pretty broad and open mind and consider myself hard to shock, BUT...

Have you ever heard "Lick My Arse" and "Girls Would You Like To Fuck Tonight" both by Kool Keith???

They could be the most sexual, perverse and NON-misogynistic rap tunes I've heard!

I read last night that Kool Kieth is playing in London in May.

Stone Roses



I've long held the Stone Roses 2nd Coming album to be a great album. Very underated, and in my opnion, better then their first.

What prompted this? I FINALLY found my bootleg live cd.
I'm listening to it now. It'd be really good except that Ian Browns' vocals are shit.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Local

My new local has a dungeon downstairs. Not only can you sit and have a drink in a 300 yr old converted jail cell- but it's also smoke free.

Photo's to come!

Friday, March 17, 2006

GEEK-talk!

Film-
I've seen the billboard advertisements and am extremely curious about:
Inside Man.
A heist film starring my man Denzel Washington, my other man- Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. Directed by Spike Lee.

Basic Instinct 2- Really curious to see if this is any good. You'd imagine (hope)that it was a pretty good premise to attract Sharon Stone back after what- 15 years?? The first was a great sexy-thriller (well that was my impression when I last saw it..... but I WAS 18 yrs old).

Comics-
Due to budget considerations and being constantly disappointed, I've pretty much stopped buying comics. BUT I am a bit interested in seeing what Scott Pilgrim is like. It looks kinda cool, but on further examination I was turned off by the use of "video game violence" as a tool to resolve conflicts.
Is it any good?
I also saw a collection of Alan Moore DC supers stories. Would be good for a read.
The last Y-The Last Man trade bored me, so I think I'll stop paying for it and wait till I'm back in Melbourne where I can just read Dougs'.

Speaking of Doug, I'll be sticking with the (also recently disappointing) The Amazing Joy Buzzards, as Holgie will be illustrating v.2 #5. Check the cover out HERE!

TV-
Just finished watching the first series of FIRE-FLY, and........ I'm not convinced.
With the exception of one brilliant episode ("Our Mrs Reynolds") there was far too many simply woeful episodes where it appeared they let the work experience kid write the script and the sandwich man direct... plus I just think it doesn't work.
Too many genres squashed in that maaaaaay have worked if they didn't also throw in soo many cliche's.
Watch-able- YES.
Showed promise- .. yeah.
Was I blown away and addicted enough to wish to all the gods that they didn't can it- nope.
Want to go back and re-watch SERENITY though.

But to make up for it... Season 2 of Deadwood is available. Next paycheck, cocksuckers!

And British tv is absolutely terrible. Australia gets the best of the best, but it is only a tiny portion of what gets aired.

Internet-
In the last few weeks I've been using my previously dormant Live Journal. I've been posting different things from there to here, so you'll have to keep on your toes and check both. I'm making use of the "Friends Only" function of lj and posting lots of work that I shouldn't be showing yet. So go over, have a look and sign up if you want. You don't want to miss out on any Frase-ness!!

Music-
Some songs I'm specifically digging at the moment:
Big River- Johnny Cash
Whats My Scene- Hoodoo Gurus
Stand Together- Beastie Boys
The Projects- Handsome Boy Modeling School
Rubber Biscuit- The Chips
Holy Smokes- Aesop (??)


NEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Out with the furries. Down with the kids.

I've finished up on the animals for now.
After numerous monkey animations and an interactive game featuring polarbears, dogs, cats, pigs, penguins, angry rabbits, hip foxes, crazy roosters and a business badger, I've moved onto the next project.
Learn to speak Spanish!
Should be good fun as I've always wanted to speak Spanish!
But instead of drawing animals, I've now gotto draw "cool kids". What does an old, grumpy and cynical jazzbo know about cool kids? Do the kids still even say "cool"? It's like they speak another language!

I'm having a bo-peep at manga style- or more specifically- spanish manga style.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I'm moving house on the weekend! After 8 months of traveling, hotels, couch hopping & house sitting I'm finally getting a pad of my own. Mine and 3 foxy women. But my name will be on the lease- so Hobo Frase TRULY no more!
Moving to a funky flat in an ex-council flat. (you should've seen some of the crackhouses and ghetto's we looked at!)
Will be in the suburb of Borough, down the road from London Bridge and a stones throw from the cbd.
So... all those good samaritians who've sheltered me in the past- I can now recipricate.
Sam & Dave, Barry & Squeeze, Doug & Jen, Iris, Dave & Shan, Cat, C-man, Leah, Doris, Anika, Sarah, Ed, um..... I know I've probally forgotten some one..... but if you're ever this way- drop me a line!

....cool...?

Monday, March 06, 2006

Best of the Best!

From the media release:
Blue Rocket Productions featured at the prestigious 2006 Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Awards in Adelaide on Friday night. Blue Rocket’s latest broadband project, The Dog and Cat News won the award for Best Children’s and also the peak award, Best of the Best.

The Dog and Cat News website was produced through the AFC/ABC Broadband Production Initiative with major funding from the TECC (Tasmanian Electronic Commerce Centre) and Telstra’s Broadband Development Fund.

Based on Blue Rocket’s TV series of the same name (co-produced with Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telepool Gmbh, Germany and Screen Tasmania), The Dog and Cat News website is hosted by ABC Online (Australia) and has continued to pull increasingly high traffic since its launch in April 2005. The two TV series are broadcast on ABC2 in Australia and also streamed directly from the website.

The Dog & Cat News producer, Alicia Rackett, acknowledged the contribution of many people to the success of the project. “From the hugely talented creative and technical team at Blue Rocket, the support of the project partners, through to the countless kids that submitted stories about their pets, these two awards will be celebrated by everyone involved in the project.”

It's an honor just to be nominated, and it's pretty rad to win your category. But to also win Best Of The Best is totally awe-SOME!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Spring

Hahahaha- sucked IN everyone else not living in the northern hemisphere!!

Yesterday was the first day of Autumn for you ALL- and that means that WINTER is almost upon you!

Hahahahhaha- how I've waited jealously for you to stop whining about the heat!

BUT for me it means the first day of SPRING and that summer is almost here.
Sweet, sweet summer!
It was a brilliantly clear blue sky yesterday... but bitterly chilly... so chilly that it snowed... and my ears were in pain from being exposed to the crisp, cold air.

Some days it doesn't pay to have big ears and a sharp, trim haircut.