got an early start today and headed to see transformers: revenge of the fallen. the good thing about it is that because it is a sequel, the action starts straight away. it reminded me of spider-man 2 that way. the background work had already been done so there was definitely more action.

the movie seems to have a lot more humour in it than its predecessor. i don’t remember laughing that much in the first one. seriously, actual laugh out loud stuff too. it’s almost an action comedy…

needless to say the special effects are top-notch. not that you would have expected anything else. there some really good robot action sequences and of course, nice explosions, as only director, michael bay, can do.

there are some new characters in here: for the autobots, there is sideswipe, arcee, skids and mudflap. for the bad guys, the constructicons make an appearance before turning into devastator, ravage and my all-time fave, soundwave. he’s not the blue tape deck he used to be, but he’s still pretty neat.

human acting is adequate, running and screaming in the correct places before moving to the side so the effects could do their job. shia lebeouf was pretty good, while megan fox was just plain pretty. maybe less speaking roles for her next time. (am i the only male on earth who doesn’t think she’s gorgeous??)

the notable omission is still my main boy, hound. *sigh* one day…

for all things movie related head to the wiki page.

Michael Jackson

1958 – 2009

the music world was left in shock and sadness today as it was announced that the king of pop, michael jackson, passed away in the early hours of this morning, australian time. it is believed that jackson suffered a cardiac arrest, paramedics working for over an hour to revive the 50-year old. he was transported to hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after.

normally this sort of news wouldn’t garner a response from me, or even motivate me to post anything here. but while i was not a fan of the man’s music per se, i can certainly appreciate what he did for the music industry. with the most popular, highest selling album of all time, jackson set the benchmark quite high for many artists for almost four decades. while his later years were plagued by debt and bad decision, his legacy, in my opinion, should only be spoken about in his musical terms; his showmanship, his style, his energy and dedication to his craft.

on the cusp of a comeback tour, it is possible that the rigours of practice may have been too much for jackson. an autopsy is reportedly being done tomorrow. but i’m not even sure if it matters to me how he died. all that matters is he’s passed and his life and achievements should be celebrated.

much like the beatles, everyone, even those who didn’t buy albums or attended concerts, have a favourite song. i’m no different. even though it was a little bit before my time, i always liked billie jean. my go and give it another listen…

jiminy crickets, how did i miss this one?? super-influential 90’s alt-metal band, faith no more, have rejoined after 10 years of nothingness. i’d heard rumours of this sort of thing before but when it never came to anything, i just dismissed everything from then on.  the line up is the last incarnation of the group with mike patton on vocals, billy gould on bass, roddy bottum on keyboards, mike bordin on skins and jon hudson on guitar.

i found this press release from rolling stone magazine, which includes a photo gallery of their career that reaches no further  than 1990. a better place for information is the offical faith no more site, fnm.com, which seems to be run by billy gould. at the moment, fnm are wrapping up tour dates in europe, with no other venues or tours confirmed or announced. i, for one, am hoping they come back to australia. i think i would be tempted to swim through fire to go and see them again.

australia went through to the 2010 world cup in south africa as winners of their group after a come from behind 2 2 – 1 victory over new arch enemy, japan. japan took the lead after 40 minutes from a good header. the goal broke mark schwarzer’s run of nearly 750 minutes of play without conceding a goal. it was also australia’s first goal against in the second phase of qualifying.

in the second half, australia played with more determination and were rewarded with goals from tim cahill. one was a beautiful looping header from the far post, while his second goal was scrambled hom after a nicky carle corner at the far post.

both australia and japan qualify from their group. both koreas, the republic (south) and the people’s democratic republic (north) qualify from their group. bahrain and saudi arabia will playoff to see who will beat new zealand for the final asian spot in the world cup.

at last! a story to tell… it’s been a while since i’ve had something to actually write about. i do owe the blog a couple of goal drawings and some photoshopping. but until then, a story will suffice.

last week, i came out of work and went to the parking lot. when i got there, i saw a big blank spot where my licence plate should have been. after a puzzling eyebrow raise, i checked the front to see if that one was still there; it was. after reporting it to the police, they mentioned that it was quite rare, and strange, to see a single plate being taken. i was dead-set certain that the plate had been there that morning when i got out of the car. some high schoolers had been loitering around apparently, but no proof, nor subsequent arrest, was made.

gazz ended up going and getting me some new plates while i was at work the next day. while it’s pretty shitty they got stolen, i’m glad i got it sorted out quickly. bit pissed because the plates were cool too, 665 KKJ: satanic neighbour of the Klan

O_o

i found an interesting set of photos depicting life in north korea. seems like a pretty basic/poor/difficult existence. the above shot is something that worries me a little. how much hate has been instilled into the people of the dprk? how much fear and xenophobia has been drilled into them. if something does happen and shit hits the fan, i have a feeling the people of north korea will fight until the last man is standing… and then keep fighting

australia qualified for their second successive world cup following a nil – all draw with qatar in doha overnight. the aussies needed only a point from their remaining three matches to qualify for south africa and gained it after an offenceless display. 

neither team could break through and tim cahill came closest for the socceroos, hitting a post and missing another chance. mark schwarzer was not tested in goal as the qataris could not get fashion any sort of attack.

japan became the first country to qualify for the world cup after beating uzbekistan 1-0. south korea also qualified from group two.

despite popular belief, popular reports and despite my own nagging doubts, my x-box 360 has come back from the service centre. with more than a healthy amount of trepidation, i tried out the system and holy sweet mother of crap, it worked! it seriously, truly i kid you friggin not, worked the very first time i put it on. admittedly, the start up is different to the original one i had. i now have to actually go into the console to start games. the ‘flick’ pages are no longer there. i don’t know if that was an older version and i got an upgrade or when i’ve been retro-fitted with a different system. either way, it works. and that’s the main thing.

after hearing about so many people having problems with their consoles. i’m glad to be one of the lucky ones to have it work when it came back. still, i’ve got until next month before the warranty runs out. hopefully it won’t get busted again before that. but if it does, i’d be more than happy to send it back again. 

happy endings really do happen! now if i just had a decent game to play on it…