Sydney Film Festival - Film Review - The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Morgan Spurlock (pictured) the documentary film maker who made the fast food industry and McDonalds in particular squirm (Super Size Me) returns with a fascinating documentary that exposes the lucrative and ubiquitous business of product placement, advertising and brand promotion in the film industry.  Spurlock uses the financing of his film to use the very same mechanisms he sets out to critique by seeking product placement opportunities to finance the production and literally starts 'living the brand' as each product company signs up.  As with Spurlock the film is  audacious and smart but whom is really spoofing whom ? Spurlock succeeds in demonstrating how to get the corporate sponsorship but in the process ends up promoting these very same products. Spurlock also seeks advice and design help and becomes a brand himself in the process.The documentary succeeds in raising the bigger question - what limits are there with commercial pitching in movies  ? A must see for all those who wonder where the marketing boundaries really lie.

Sydney Film Festival 2011 - Sleeping Beauty - Film Review

Still Shot: Emily Browning in  'Sleeping Beauty"

The Sydney Film Festival is on again. One of the more PR promoted films is reviewed below...

The plot is described as an "unsettling erotic fairytale" and the film was selected for Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. But what was the all hype about with this film ? Emily Browning plays Lucy, a university student working numerous self-effacing jobs such as waitressing, after-hours office support and generally the jobs students do. Described in character as ".. socially isolated from her housemates and fellow students..." Lucy displays little genuine interest in them, skips her rent and spends her limited free time ministering to the peculiar desires of her morbidly depressed and apparently best 'friend' Birdmann (played by Ewen Leslie and of whom we learn almost nothing even after he apparently commits suicide). Her strong-willed drift towards recreational drug indulgent oblivion is anchored only by her need for money so she signs up with an exclusive silver service lingerie club run by the elegant but unexplained Clara (Rachael Blake), whose poise and controlling demeanor is a stark contrast with the almost monosyllabic, vacuous Lucy.

The film lacks a strong story line, effective storytelling dialogue and drifts almost aimlesslessy along its length punctuated by regular nude scenes of Lucy (Emily Browning), almost gratuitious and irrelevent in their frequency. The film actually has no ending but concludes at a dramatic scene, so the audience is left with nothing in terms of character and plot resolution or even a sense of options. A fairytale story this is not. Lucy as a central character is someone for whom the audience can find little sympathy. Narcissistic, solely inwardly focussed and living a deceptive existence she represesents in one way everything which is attributed to Generation Y.

Ozone and rainfall - a new connection

Researchers, engineers and other scientists at Columbia University released the results of a study this month on the impact of the depletion of the ozone layer above Antarctica. The findings reflect an additioanl impact on the Earth from the damage to the ozone layer caused by human activity and the increased discharge of CFCs into the atmosphere. Most data gathered has, to date, focussed on the role of ozone in the reduction of harmful UV radiation from the Sun and consequently the increased UV exposure due to the 'hole' in this atmospheric layer. The new study used two independently drawn climate models - the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model and the United States' National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model. In four experiments comparing data on sea ice, surface temperatures, precipitation and the ozone hole, the analysis showed the hole was the main driver of heavy summer rains across eastern Australia, the southwestern Indian Ocean and the Southern Pacific Convergence Zone.

Chocolate at Easter.... to eat, or not to eat, that is the question

At this time of year around the Easter celebration period, many people face the question of having a guilty conscience through indulging in a splurge of chocolate eating. Various conflicting messages from a variety of studies point either to negative health effects or to some potential positive value of chocolate consumption. A study from the world renowed Karolinska Institute found that -

"Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate regularly may cut their long-term risk of dying from heart disease. The study, which is published in Journal of Internal Medicine, was conducted on more than 1000 heart attack patients in Stockholm County during the period 1992-1994. A follow-up survey was made after eight years. The result shows that chocolate consumption may be associated with lower cardiac mortality, as those heart patients who ate chocolate several times a week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who didn't eat chocolate at all..."

Any health value appears to be linked to dark chocolate only... so no luck for milk chocolate or white chocolate fans!

Good Friday and the buns

On Good Friday during the Easter celebration, hot cross buns are traditionally toasted or eaten hot with the cross on the bun symbolising The Crucifixion of Jesus. There is some evidence to suggest that hot cross buns actually pre-date Christianity, although generally it is acknowledged that the first reference to 'hot cross buns' was in 1733. However the use of a cross on bread or buns has a wider use than with the Christian festival and similar buns were eaten by Saxons in honour of the goddess Eostre as the cross represetned the four quarters of the moon. Whether correct or not is unknown although the term "Eostre" is probably the origin of the name "Easter". Apart from people of devout faith or belief, it is doubtful that many of those consuming the buns are aware of its actual meaning.

Up in the Sky - NASA releases images from Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer

NASA's Images from looking into the heavens: click here

Nebula SH 2-235

Sydney's society art show - the Archibald in 2011

Once again the the Archibald Portrait exhibition has arrived on the 2011 art calender. Amongst the 41 selected entries are portraits of Roy Ananda, John Coetzee, Matt Moran, Hugo Weaving, Robert Jacks, Dr Ann Lewis , Richard Roxburgh, Robyn Nevin, Prof Penny Sackett, Cathy Freeman, Richard morecroft, Tim Storrier (a self portrait) and the ubiquitious Margaret Olley. The awarding of the first prize to Ben Quilty for his portrait of Margaret Olley (shown below) cements her position in Australia as the most often painted artist by other artists. The Archibald is often a bit of a controversial painting contest however the 2011 exhibition is relatively steady fare with no surprises.