Friday, August 22, 2008

The Paparazzi - Do We Really Need Them?

No, we don't. We just like having them around because they are our one - way tickets into the lives of those we see on TV or hear on the radio. But why is a celebrity's life so damn interesting? they are only different from us "normal people" because they are rich & the jobs that make them rich also greatly entertain the rest of us. The paparazzi have been a thorn in the side of Hollywood since the birth of the gossip magazine & quite frankly, I'm amazed at the amount of tolerance that celebrities have with them because if I were in Hollywood right now and they were taking pictures of me and my family all the time, I would get a big, fat machine gun  and set about the business of  systematically shooting every paparazzo within my range. I mean, I'm not famous in any way but I still see the hell that celebrities go through at the hands of the paparazzi & what the paparazzi clamor to get from celebrities every day. Baby bump shots, baby shots, shots from between a woman's legs etc. The paparazzi have even been mostly responsible for the death of one of the people they seem most interested in, Princess Diana of Wales (R.I.P) because they were tailing her, driving very dangerously, doing anything they could think of to get a shot of her. One of the best examples of tabloid invasion is Michael Jackson. He has gone from the King of Pop to becoming the world's most famous sideshow after they pried & poked into the most personal aspects of his life which they had no right to do, from his liberal amounts of surgery to his child molestation trials, which, BTW, where only filed because greedy people wanted to get hold of his money. In conclusion, what I'm trying desperately to get through to anyone interested enough to read my blogs is that the lives of celebrities are very rarely, if ever, any of our business. The paparazzi  have been invading the lives of celebrities from Elvis Presley to Laurence Olivier & they're all sick of it. Celebrities are HUMAN BEINGS & therefore no different from us.

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Dark Knight

Lights go out at at the Bondi Junction cinema, everyone is silent & there is an anticipation in the air the likes of which I have not felt since Lord of the Rings. The packed cinema is on the edge of  their seats because they all know they are about to witness the last & greatest performance of one of Australia's finest young actors. That is exactly what we got as my brother, his girlfriend & myself sat in that cinema. The opening bank heist scene in the Dark Knight signaled the start of a performance that was unlike anything else Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace) had ever done. 
And everyone else in the cast delivered very well too, from Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes; to Sir Michael Caine, once again reprising his role as Wayne Manor's trusty butler; to Aaron Eckhart, stepping in to fill the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent A.K.A Two - Face. I find it very reassuring that the Batman franchise has been put in Christopher Nolan's safe hands as opposed to other, more recent incarnations (Joel Schumacher, anyone?). & the only question remains: Will Mr. Nolan continue his noble work & make more movies of the Caped Crusader? because if he does, then I, for one, hope that the Riddler, Penguin & Catwoman will all feature in those movies. But if he decides to abandon his labors & have other directors pick up where he left off, then what will that director do with the torch that has been passed to him? All Batman fans will wait with baited breath, but, for now, let me finish off this little story by saying that the Dark Knight is the greatest comic book movie I have EVER SEEN!