BITS & PIECES – a much needed catchup

Apologies for such a long gap between entries. After 4 weeks of intense box office work, I now find myself unemployed again. At least I’ll have more time to update my blog! Here are some photos and reviews which are long overdue – sorry, the festival is over, but enjoy the reviews anyway.

love g

Belated pictures from bowling – Geordie’s birthday

Thanks to Geord for the photos!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G.
We love you!

Rob goes in for the kill.

Geoff - in deep concentration.
Be one with the boule Geoffrey.

Paul - he's the man!
Anyone who can bowl two shots in a row that touch the jack is a FREAK!


Gluten Free Freak gets stuck into the Gluten Free Food
Sonia - nice going - two glasses at once! Impressive.


When you are close to knocking out your woman with the amount of smoke coming off your birthday cake, it's a sign you are getting old!!!

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COMEDY REVIEWS
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Demetri Martin - Dr Earnest Parrot presents (22/4/2006)

Demetri, Demetri – oh how I love thee. Demetri did two shows this year. This is his story show. He tells us of how his psychiatrist Dr Earnest Parrot diagnoses him with a ‘Brain Nook’ and goes on to explain what events triggered this phenomenon and what is in the ‘Brain Nook’. Demetri ended up winning this year’s Barry award this show. An extremely well prepared show with plenty of slides and music, and yet it never seems contrived. Such a delightful and personal gig, he sucks you in and makes you want to hug him. Awwhhhhh....

(For those unfamilar with his work, check out the poem "Dammit I'm Mad" on his website, www.demetrimartin.com, under the Other Things tab - it is way cool!)

Danny Bhoy (29/4/2006)

Danny Bhoy sold out about 22 shows at the Atheneum theatre, breaking the record for the most tickets sold at a MICF (Ross Noble held the record for his effort last year). Having seen him a few years ago, I wondered what the fuss was about. After seeing the show, my questioned were answered. Not only is he a good looking charming young man with an accent, but he is pretty funny too. His delivery has improved out of sight, and while you know parts of his show are well scripted, it is hard to tell which bits are and which bits aren’t.

Demetri Martin – These are other jokes (3/5/2006)

This was Demetri’s other show, the stand up one. A little disappointing. While some parts of it were very funny – eg. Demetri’s research presented in a series of bar charts (what can I say, deep down I’m still partly actuarial), it felt like much of the show was Demetri trying out new jokes for his next “real” show. Possibly the highlights of the show were when he was adlibbing and interacting with the audience, if but briefly. In particular, there was the woman sitting behind us who seriously had a laugh like Woody Woodpecker.

Sam Simmons – Tales from the Erotic Cat (7/5/2006)

Sam Simmons was one of the quiet achievers of the festival. Not a big name, but got himself a Barry Award nomination and sold out shows. F@#$ this was a weird show. Laughs were borne more out of the ridiculousness of what this strange man was spouting on stage. Still not sure whether I should have been laughing or crying for this man whose best friend is a Ficus plant.

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MOVIE REVIEW
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American Dreamz: 2.5/5

Disappointing. Having seen Mandy Moore in Saved! I thought this would be a similar sort of intelligent satirical conversation. Perhaps that was where the writers started with it, but that is not what happened on screen. Did they dumb it down for the average movie goer or was it beyond my intelligence? I don’t know, but I would like to thing the former. J It feels like they just take the joke too far. Most of the characters are one dimensional with the expections of Mandy Moore who perhaps managers an extra half a character and Dennis Quaid who has successfully managed to create a character with no dimensions. Only Sam Golzari as Omer manages to be somewhat human.