Rubber Chicken’s Dojo

i missed out on the second section the other day due to circumstances well in my control. but here they are, the rest of the photos from the world of sport that i thought were pretty cool:

we went on two adventures last night. one was around brisbane looking for a cinema that was not fully booked out. the other was via james cameron and his cinematic imagination. both trips were worthwhile.

after driving to southbank only to find out that the session was sold out (thankfully we avoided the $15 parking fee), we drove all the way over to sunnybank and the amc cinemas.

james cameron’s avatar is certainly a visual feast. this is certainly a delectable palette for the eyes. set on the fictional world of pandora, we find paraplegic soldier, jake sully (sam worthington) fly in to replace his scientist brother who has died. jake has been chosen because he was a twin and it’s his dna that is matched to do the work his brother was trained to do.

the work he was to do was ‘drive’ a clone of one of pandora’s indigenous inhabitants. after a nice montage, jake learns all the skills necessary to make him a native.

he’s also there because earth’s humans have invaded pandora in search of precious metals. they explain that earth has been devastated and comparisons are made with pandora’s pristine forest environment. the movie is basically an allegory for human and capitalist greed. no surprise that the humans and company are american, then.

the cgi for the movie is top-notch. the environments are awesome and it would have been great to see them on the imax screen. the animals and flora are unique in their own ways.

the only thing that got to me was the overall premise: man falls in love with ‘video game’ female. i mean, jake never actually sees his alien love, neytiri, until right at the end. i kept thinking “fan boy” every time he ran in to his machine that hooked hi up with the clone. it was almost like an online love affair.

overall, a great story line, awesome visuals, annoying little details that got to me but maybe not to others.

oh and michelle rodriguez is hot, sigourney weaver, not anymore. even if every time i see her, i think 1) she’s the chick from ‘lost’ 2) she’s the chick that got drunk and arrested and pulled the “don’t you know who i am?” line… damn

sheffield wednesday scored their first goals since november 7 and got their first point in 10 games as they shared the spoils with newcastle united in their boxing day clash. wednesday were unbeaten in their last five boxing day fixtures while united were undefeated in their last four.

the game started at a frenetic pace. the owls changed to q 4-3-3 formation from the side that lost to swansea last time out. it paid dividends as luke varney scored an early goal on 14 minutes, giving wednesday their first lead since october. varney heading home a chipped james o’connor cross.

promotion-hopefuls, newcastle, quickly hit back though. five minutes after varney’s goal, kevin nolan hit back, then shola ameobi scored three minutes later to make it 2-1. both sides pushed forward looking for more goals and the game settled into a more fluctuating rhythm.

wednesday pulled level on the hour as new boy, o’connor, drilled home a finish after varney hit the crossbar with a header.

the draw has hardly slowed the magpie juggernaut as it looks to bounce back into the premier league after just one season. at the other end, the point moves sheffield wednesday to within two point of safety. the worrying aspect being that the surrounding teams all have a game to come.

i was going to do some end of year lists but in the end, i hadn’t read enough new books, seen enough movies or watched enough television. one thing i do like doing however is sport. and looking at photos. i’ve basically given up on taking them. so, here are some of my favourite shots from this year. More to come tomorrow:

a darren pratley first-half double sunk sheffield wednesday to continue their winless streak against swansea city overnight. the welsh side pushed their promotion chances as their dominant display swept aside the owls.

the owls’ attack either squandered chances or repelled by a resolute swans defense.

the loss keeps wednesday in the bottom three.

no word yet on the manager front. however, with english premier league side manchester city sacking their manager, mark hughes, on the weekend, it would be interesting if the owls were to give him a call.

it’s been a while since i’ve been to the movies but this one was a corker. where the wild things are is a poignant tale of a boy who goes in search of his place in his family, in his world and in himself.

the movie takes a lot of creative license when it comes to the interpretation of the book; such as why the boy, max (max records), is the way he is. he feels abandoned, neglected and left out. his older sister ignores him and would rather hang out with her friend and her divorced mother is overworked and stressed. her new boyfriend also becomes another hurdle for max to conquer if he wants any attention.

many reviews have taken two opinions; they either love the film or complain that it is too silent-heavy. they don’t seem to get it. the silence is necessary. it brings thought. it brings appraisal. it brings epiphany. just like the colours. there is no bright rainbows flying across the screen. the monsters are all shades of brown and grey. unlike some of the previews, which featured ‘the rock’ as a friggin’ tooth fairy for crying out loud.

director spike jonze said that while children may find this story appealing, it is not a children’s movie. it was not for children, nor about children. it was made by a child. the point of view is totally max’s. it is quite a character-driven film. the book itself only has about ten pages of writing. so making a two hour film out of it was quite a feat.

i personally loved this film and was realising stuff hours after it had finished. for example, that all the monsters were personifications of max’s personality. there was his main, conscious ego (carol), his negative pessimist side (judith), his weak side that symbolised his lack of voice (alexander) and even the side of max that liked to build things and do things with his hands (ira). i’d definitely go and see it again. the dvd will be a must-buy.

i thought this review by phnuggle was well done. just ignore the first paragraph. while this gallery is also great.