b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

Drunkorexia n. A potent cocktail of liquor and starvation increasingly popular among women who offset the calories in alcohol by eating little or nothing before hitting the town.

A drunkorexic can enjoy three glasses of pinot grigio for every skipped Snickers bar.

Thanks to the folks at Wired for this.

So I promised myself that I would write more this year again, and god damn it I will.

I am back from Rio, having had a GREAT time there, and despite feeling like crap from the stomach bug thats been going around in London, I headed out the the SPICE GIRLS reunion concert tonight with three friends.

And I had a really good time. And I am disturbed by the fact that I knew the words to ALL OF THE SONGS. Thats my slightly flakey eidetic memory for you again. Lyrics and plots/scrips for TV shows - I seem to be able to auto recall anything I have ever seen or heard. Not all the time, or on demand, but enough to be spooky.

Anyway the concert was fun. Incredibly staged and art directed - although little could cover up the fact that these girls really do have fairly marginal talent. Victoria Beckham in particular is unbelievably talentless.

No really. Can't sing. Doesn't dance. Walks like a truck driver in heels and zero stage presence. But the gilrs from Essex scream their guts out when ever she comes on stage. Amazing! Its the whole Cinderella thing I think, they are all thinking "That could be me - I am that talentless". Well good for her, she has made a little go a very long way.

I saw her on Ugly Betty the other night and, well, we can add "can't act" to the list.

Bless.

As for the others, Mel B/Scarey who I always thought had the best voice, seems to have not done much with it; Emma/Baby is sweet but again the voice hasnt hed up. I am actually surprised she hasn't parleyed her very good looks into an acting career - she did a pretty good job on Ab Fab; Geri the Media Whore did a good job of stealing the show - she has a combination of an ok voice and seemingly unlimed show mans ship; and Mel C/Sporty, who always has the most interesting voice, has turned that into a pretty spectacular set of pipes. She has had four albums since the break up and they are all very good.

All up the show was ok, without being amazing. There really wasnt much clever in it, but then did there need to be. The one thing that I thought was a disappointment was that they didnt focus on the Girl Power thing. The Spice Girls came along at the right time and cauught a social wave, they represented a new age of girls being more confident and empowered and while there music was marginal, the message they sent was a good and important one.

IF they are still coming to your town, and would want a camp, high colour night out, get along and see them. Relax and enjoy the tack - its worth it.

I am trying to figure out if these things are fakes, or if they actually work.

The Ad-Speak around them quotes Antonio Riello, the artist, saying: 

 "Using leopard skins, brightly lacquered colors, inset jewels and fake furs, I create a range of specialized items for wives of mafia bosses, arms dealers, sophisticated ladies and exigent soldiers….hybrids born from Italian obsession for high fashion as well as for violence".

I think its particularly sweet that the artist, has named the models after girls he has gone out with. 

All I can say is you would want to have a steady hand to make these.

Check them out at Hoard Magazine. 

This was reported in a sad British Tabloid (who I will not dignify by naming or linking to) presumably to get them selves Slashdotted to drive up ad revenue.

I doubt it's true - but if it is I will find the responsible parties, give them a sound talking to and quite possibly kick them square in the nuts.

DO NOT stand between me and my goofy Sci-Fi. You killed off Rose, that was bad enough, don't be taking the whole thing away now.

To be serious for a second, I find it hard to credit that the BBC would give up such a lucrative franchise - nor do I think that Russell T. Davies and crew would be so petty as to pick up bat and ball, and go home rather than passing the torch.

The article was clearly writen with non-film people in mind. It says the "senior staff are feeling the strain of the heavy workload imposed by the show, nine months a year of 16-hour days, and plan to resign en-masse in 2008.

Um hello! 9 mths of 16 hour days is standard for the film industry.

Duran Duran's Roger Taylor has just celebrated his second wedding - this time to his Peruvian fiancee Gisella Bernales - in the exclusive Jalousie Plantation, St Lucia.

The rest of the band were there to see him take his vows and apparently to run interference for the print media.

Guests in the hotel were annoyed to be confronted by a very loud Simon Le Bon shouting 'You can't take photos, they have an exclusive deal with OK magazine, they won't get the money if you take photos".

But very much enjoyed the sight soon after of Yasmin Le Bon shouting at Simon "Why do you always have to get so drunk?"

I think the answer to that question is two fold:

1. because he has to face constant, embarrassing reminders of his old hair mistakes
2. because apparently his wife is something of a public shrew

Classy, huh.

Around 10 years ago, Steve Jobs returned from the wilderness, regained the helm cf Apple Computers, prising it from the cold, near dead fingers of the evil, careless regencies of Gil Amelio and "Prince John" Sculley.

In a fit of typical, and fairly predictable, Jobsian peak he ran through Apple cancelling programs and product lines left and right. In most cases he was absolutely correct. Apple was over extended, with way too many product variants. It had strayed far from it's base as the alternate to the beige boxed rampaging normalcy of windows. Jobs return was the start of a substantial shift by the Cupertino based computer maker, and with the inclusion of Jonathan Ive as the head of design a legend was (re) born.

I may not have the personal credentials to be able to judge Jobs but as I sit here in a cafe writing this on my Apple Newton 2000 I have to wonder if that at least one product line that he killed a little too quickly.

Granted it's a little boxy, and not THAT much lighter than my Macbook Pro, but there is something very satisfying writing this by hand. As l watch it transform my really very messy handwriting into its quirky digital ink, with a remarkable level of accuracy, it strikes me that given most  people have trouble reading my handwriting, this 10 year old doohickey is doing a bang up job.

For the last few days I have been battling with what, in Newton circles, is referred to as the  "Bootstrap" problem - namely needing to have something installed on the Newton before you are able to install any thing, synchronise or get any thing off. Lets face it, a Newton unconnected is, quite frankly, an curiosity not a usable tool so this was an important battle to win .

Last night, after a few days research and a purchase or two of connecting hardware things suddenly took a very Mac like turn-namely it all just worked. So now l sit cafes, writing my blog and getting somewhat puzzled looks from people and loving the experience of actually writing.

Anyone who has owned a Newton, loved it. Aficionados are constantly talking up rumours that Apple might be about to reintroduce the product, and I have to admit that I am very hopeful. But even if they do not do so, I will keep my old greeny black box because using it is a remarkably beautiful and nontechnical experience. I love it.

The last few years have had more than their fair share of self doubt - somehow I kept everything moving forward but there were times I want not entirely sure how or why I was managing.

My life pretty much always has a sound track to it, usually its up beat and eclectic but the Songbook for 2005's is particularly and uncharacteristically sad - or possibly just self pitying, the difference is usually perspective and/or time. A big contributor to that song book was Australia's newest singing wonder - Missy Higgins with her debut album, The Sound of White.

There are songs on it that gave voice to the bad things I was feeling and crow bared in a little hope

Now its getting to the middle of 2007, and this years song book is well underway. Its much happier, with only the occasional touch of melancholy. Rob Thomas's - LIttle Wonders is a shoe in to make my end of year mix but now Missy has released her new album and I may have found the anthem track for the year - Steer.

So hold this feeling like a newborn
Oh with freedom surging through your veins
You have opened up a new door
So bring on the wind, fire and the rain

But the search ends here
Where the night is totally clear
And your heart is fierce
So now you finally know
That you control where you go
You can steer

My life is regaining the direction and drive that characterised the first 35 years, and again Miss Higgins is going to help provide me the sound track as I start on the next adventures I have planned for life - and life has planned for me.

Have a listen to the remix at You Tube .  

Here is something kind of important you need to know about me - I love animation.

 And I particularly love well made kids animations. I know they are cliched, corney and obvious, but there is a reason that cliches mean something to us.

So imagine my sadness at the last decade of lack lustre work from the Disney Studios. Once a shining light, they fell into a sad decine over the last few years, lost in a quagmire of technical geekery, desperate avoidance of digital, trite plots and uninspiring cameo voices.  None of which is what I go to see an animation for.

I go to have my heart warmed.

At one time Disney ruled the animation roost and looked set to reinvent musical theatre on screen. And then in 1995, with the overly chesty Pocahontas, it all seemed to die leaving Pixar to struggle on to create beautiful stories. Stories that warmed the heart and lifted the spirit of the young at heart.

That seemed to be the thing that Disney forget - Its not about the technology, or the actors, or the effects or the marketing or the franchise - it is about the story. Nothing else REALLY matters.   

Last night for me things changed.

My mate P and I went to see "Meet the Robinsons". My heart was warmed, my faith restored.

At last Disney seems to have recovered their way. I am not going to go into plot details here, they are pretty obvious to be honest, but it was thoroughly enjoyable - even the added geekery of the 3D glasses didnt dampen the films glowing smile. Disney even managed to recover some of their music cred with a great tracksoundtrack from Danny Elfman (of course) including a corker from Rob Thomas (see below).

There is even an interesting lesson in the films villain; look to the reasons WHY someone does the things they do and seek to help the cause, not punish the symptoms. A lesson that comes straight from Americas growing awareness that they need to share the planet with the rest of us.

All of this in a kids film. 

If you are a child at heart, go see it. Trust me, speaking as the worlds largest 9 year old, you will love it. It wont expand your horizons, it wont challenge you, it wont provoke thought - but it will lift your spirits. Sometimes thats what we need.