Image from the last Deus swap meet, by me.

Today a meme from @katejf.

According to IMBD the top 25 grossing films of 2010 are:

Top 25 Box Office of 2010

(as of December 13, 2010)

1. Toy Story 3 ($415M)
2. Alice in Wonderland ($334.2M)
3. Iron Man 2 ($312.1M)
4. Eclipse ($300.5M) seen (over-rated)
5. Inception ($292.5M) not seen yet, but I will, I um, seem to have um, ‘acquired’ a copy on my ‘puter
6. Deathly Hallows Part 1 ($259.2M)
7. Despicable Me ($250.3.7M)
8. Shrek Forever After ($238.4M)
9. How to Train Your Dragon ($217.6M)
10. The Karate Kid ($176.6M)
11. Clash of the Titans ($163.2M)
12. Grown Ups ($162M)
13. Megamind ($140.6M)
14. The Last Airbender ($131.6M)
15. Shutter Island ($128M)
16. The Other Guys ($119.2M)
17. Salt ($118.3M)
18. Tangled ($117.2M)
19. Jackass 3-D ($116.8M)
20. Valentine’s Day ($110.5M)
21. Robin Hood ($105.3M) seen, on an aircraft (OK but they tried to make the story too historically relevant)
22. The Expendables ($103.1M)
23. Date Night ($98.7M)
24. Due Date ($95.4M)
25. Sex and the City 2 ($95.3M) I would struggle to think of a worse way to waste my time than seeing this

I have seen only two and may only see another couple. How many have you seen?

Of those I have not seen, the ones I want to are: not on this awfullist. And can I just add that after seeing Hugh Jackman’s annoying Lipton Ice tea ads that I probably won’t ever want to see another movie with him in it. They may well be worse than the whole McOprah “tourism” to MacCafe campaign.

If you want to see the whole list of 228 titles click here

Thanks again Kate.

Here they are. The second lot. All released and purchased in 2010. There were a few albums that I wanted, but just didn’t get around to purchasing like Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes (2009 and therefore not eligible anyway) and LCD Soundsystem This is Happening. I also tried to buy Gorrillaz Plastic Beach, but when I went into the big store, I forgot the album name and could not read the fine print (i.e. the release date) and came away with Demon Days which is not as good. So let’s just get on with it Dorothy:

Miami Horror: Illumination. Dance & House. I wasn’t sure that I’d enjoy this album so much. I heard the strong influence of New Order on Sometimes and was immediately comforted. The G.L.O.V.E.S. extended mix of sometimes is also great. Melbin has so many talented peoples. 12/14

Midnight Juggernauts: Crystal Axis. Electronica/Dance. Another under-rated Melbin band that defies classification. Brilliant musics. I became obsessed with Vital Signs but the whole album is good and really showcases their enormous talent. 12/14

The National: High Violet. Indie Rock. This is critically acclaimed by those who know these things. It is a good album, but I doubt it is any better than most on my Top 14. Mature, dark, thinking person’s rock. I’d have liked more happiness. It is the kid of album you can always admit to owning because it impresses your friends that you have such great taste. Bloodbuzz Ohio is a great single. 12/14

Children Collide: Theory of Everything. Indie Rock. I bought this because Jelly Legs fascinated me. I don’t know why. Maybe the strong base line. I was surprised at how many tracks I liked on the album. They’re a Melbin band and have a very Australian sound. Almost punk-like vocals. Arrows is probably my fave, but I also love My Eagle. 13/14.

Cloud Control: Bliss Release. Alternative & Punk. This band is the only Australian band not from Melbin. They hail from the Blew Mountayns near Sidknee and this is their “dee-butt” album (I didn’t watch the award show where dee-butt became famous, but I heard about it the next day on Triple J). Anywho, back to Cloud Control now. Meditation Song #2 is probably my fave song of 2010. I just love all of it: the vocals, the distorted guitar, the change of pace and tempo, everything! So excitement. I hope they do many more albums. 13/14

Jinja Safari: Jinja Safari (EP). Alternative & Punk. Your reviewer has almost as much excitement about Peter Pan as Cloud Control. And like Cloud Control, they are also the only Australian band not based in Melbin. You work that out. Their music makes me want to buy a Morris Dancing outfit and some sticks and dance around a pole at a fair. I can’t wait for the full album. 13/14

Birds of Tokyo: Birds of Tokyo. Alternative & Punk. A very mature world class album that has been very well produced. It has many good tracks like Plans (my fave) and Wild at Heart. Nothing on the album that I don’t like. 13/14.

A quick survey reveals 14 albums that I bought in 2010 that were released this year. So here is my quick review with scores out of 14 and my favourite tracks. The first seven in no particular order (genres from iTunes):

Arcade Fire: The Suburbs. Rock. This album has 16 tracks and all but a few are memorable. Some are almost “anthemic”. I wasn’t sure I’d like it and was surprised to be familiar with so many of the tracks, not knowing they were from this album. There are 16 tracks for those more interested in quality. On some tracks you can almost hear Bruce Springsteen. The Suburbs and Ready to Start are great tracks but I prefer the drama of Rococo and the classic rock sound of City With No Children. 13/14

Hot Chip: One Life Stand. Alternative & punk. This is a brilliant album. I bought it for the track One Life Stand, but there are many great tracks. It makes even a non-dancer like me want to move. Other fave tracks include I Feel Better & Take It In. 13/14

Vampire Weekend: Contra. Alternative & punk. Cousins was played too much and is now annoying. I like some of the vocals. Well produced. Fave track probably Horchata. 9/14.

Bag Raiders (self titled). Electronica. Shooting Stars was probably one of my fave songs for 2009 (a pre-released single), so I eagerly awaited this album. It is still a stand out that I’ve not tired of hearing. I used to imagine Marieke Josephine Hardy dancing around the Triple J studios when they played it on the old breakfast show. There is a sameness to a few of the tracks. Way Back Home was a great pick as the second single release. It is a wonderful track and I love the length at 9:15. 11/14.

Yeasayer: Odd Blood. Pop. Another really good album with several stunning tracks. I liked the video for Ambling Alp but I think my fave track is now Madder Red by a long way. There is a good deal of variety on the album, but I doubt that the quality is so inconsistent to deserve the harsh review it got on Pitchfork. 12/14

Two Door Cinema Club: Tourist History. Alternative & punk. I love this album. I saw them live at Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar earlier this year and they played amazingly well. They are so young and so talented. They have so much energy that it is impossible not to get carried away. I bought the album for I Can Talk, but there are so many great tracks like Do You Want It All that it is hard to pick a fave. For a while now it has probably been This Is The Life. I love the way they change pace within tracks. Exciting energetic music. 13/14

Angus & Julia Stone: down the way. Pop. Another group that I saw live – at the Enmore Theatre and another album I eagerly anticipated. They are really impressive live: much more so than I expected and they put on a fantastic show that surprised and delighted. There are wonderful ballads and some beautiful folk tunes. Julia’s voice  and stage manner remind me of Martha Wainright. A lot. They both enjoy their music so much that they seem to disappear into it. I also hear influences like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Aimee Mann. Walk It Off is very evocative and beautifully produced. I think And The Boys is still my fave track though. 13/14

Original image on Flickr.

The other night I took a DVD of the 2010 film Edge of Darkness out to watch with Mum after visiting Dad in hospital. She thinks I am a lousy picker, so I defended and justified my choice by referring to the mid-80s TV series of the same name that has recently been rebroadcast in Australia by the ABC. 

I’ve probably watched the TV series three times, including its first broadcast in Australia. It is superb TV. A work of art that mixes great writing with haunting imagery, brilliant acting, a wonderful cast, darkly atmospheric music and a complex and thrilling plot line that reflected its time (Thatcher’s England) but still retains contemporary relevance. The dialogue in the film was simply stunning, especially that which Joe Don Baker delivered as the CIA’s eccentric Darius Jedberg. I am sure that I looked forward to each episode as much in late 2010 as I did when they were initially screened in the mid/late 1980s.

One of the great things about the series was that hardly anyone, even the almost saintly Ronnie Craven (played by Bob Peck), was all good or all bad. The superb cast assembled for the series really helped with that impression. Each episode something about the plot surprised me or made me question who was really “right”. You were never spoon fed, nor given much assistance or any reminders about all of the seemingly insignificant but nonetheless important clues that were dropped everywhere. 

Bob Peck thoroughly deserved his 1986 BAFTA best actor award for the series. His character was a magnetic but flawed hero and he had such an intoxicating voice. I was sad to read that he died of cancer at only 53 in 1999.

The TV series pulled two big strings for me.

Around the same time I was on exchange in England working as an intelligence analyst in a UK agency. It was an odd time and computers were not as dominant as they are today. In fact you hardly saw them. It was all a bit more like Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. I can still remember writing out (by hand) a report on the arms trade and some conflict that I was not able to present in person because after I had written it I had to classify it at a level that was I was not cleared to read (because I was not a UK national). So the intelligence characters and references and the obsession with nuclear energy and weapons in the series were of particular interest to me and I reckon they got it all pretty right for a TV drama.

The other string came in the form of an item of Darius Jedberg’s clothing. In the mid-1980s I developed an obsession with the Hawaii Ironman triathlon. As a sport it was really still in its infancy and hardly anyone in England would have known about it. In two scenes, however, Jedberg is clearly shown wearing a prized finisher’s t-shirt. Who knows where that idea came from? I can remember phoning friends as soon as I saw it in sheer excitement. It says a heap about his character and at that stage a lot of those competing in that crazy event were people like Jedberg. I don’t think Joe Don Baker ever completed Ironman Hawaii, but I guess he may have. (I began racing Ironman triathlon in Australia in 1985, but didn’t qualify to race in Hawaii until 1988 and didn’t race there until 1989.)

So, to get back to the 2010 film now. The film had none of the above. Even though it runs for over two hours, they left so much out that even Ray Winstone could not save it. Amazingly, it has the same director as the series, Martin Campbell. 2/10.

For Boxing Day, Mum, Mez and I went down to see my sister-in-law and her kids for Christmas. Uncle Phil was working again – saving lives and rescuing drunks with the Ambulance service.

Here my amazing Lego assembly super powers came in handy. I had to build Mum’s gift to my nephew – a full on Star Wars jet fighter. Although my six year old nephew knows more about Star Wars than George Lucas, even he doubted our ability to ever finish it. This toy is so complex that I hear nobody has successfully assembled it in under three months and I did it in under one evening and with only two glasses of Piper-Heidsieck.

This minor miracle was performed despite my sister’s cruel, faithless and constant taunts that Uncle Phil (her can-do husband) was needed during the scary bits. I am awesome. I will no longer fear bringing home a box from Ikea.

Excitement came in the form of the storm that blue up quickly. My sister-in-law and sister were preparing foods, I was building a jet fighter and the kids are only six and four, so it was left to my mother to rescue everything left on the tabel outside after the giant umbrella tipped over in the gale force winds. Erecting the umbrella was another “where is Uncle Phil when you need him because Uncle Mal is hopeless” moment, but saving the rear wall of the house from the destruction it was about to bring was left to my dear old mother. She is nearly as awesome as me.

Sometimes even my nephew lost faith in my Lego assembly super powers, but their new young kitten Jeffrey (pictured above with the box) didn’t. He was quite helpful inside the box when we both tried to find a small grey slopey bit with a round thingy on it. He is probably four months old now and simply adorable. He races around like a crazy cut snake and is always playing games with himself or anyone else who wants to offer some naked skin to his gaming tools (sharp teeth and claws).

As I mentioned in the previous post, this was a daunting time for all of us so soon after the los of my brother, but it was great to see the kids happy and playing. They miss their father, but they are doing really well.

I’m late with this, but I will catch up. Despite all of the food, presents and heaps of Moët, this is a difficult Christmas for my family. It is the first without my brother Murray who died in a car accident earlier this year. That has been really hard on my mother but if that wasn’t enough to deal with my father collapsed the night before Christmas Eve and we spent 24 December in a hospital emergency ward waiting to see what caused it all. The fall damaged a knee and he hit his head and he already had some broken ribs and a shoulder injury from his last fall, so he is still in a lot of pain. Nobody really seems to be able to identify the cause apart from old age and his body just wearing out. It is very sad, but I guess this sort of thing eventually comes to most of us.

My brother in law Phil is a wonderful man and also an underpaid slave of the NSW Ambulance service. He was the local acting station manager on the day Dad collapsed (and also Christmas Day!) and arrived with the ambulance on Christmas Eve to look after him and take him to hospital. He even called in again to check on him later at the end of his shift. That is him in the image above, putting up the Christmas tree at my parents’ home. I provided invaluable deconstructive criticism and reintegrated shaming (from a safe distance).

So on Christmas Day Mum, my sister Mez and I we went back to the hospital to check on Dad and give him some Christmas cheer. He’d been moved to a ward, but they were still doing tests. He reads a lot so I gave him Howard Jacobson’s Man Booker Prize winning The Finkler Question.

Christmas lunch was just Mum, Mez, me and three dogs. We did fish this year, tonnes of fish: Atlantic salmon, prawns, lobster, scallops and Balmain bugs. WE didn’t get to the bugs and took them and what was left of the prawns to a bigger family dinner later on with all the cousins, aunts and uncles.

It was a long day that many of us were dreading, but in the end it was saved by many caring family members, some amazing dogs and a couple of bottles of Moët.