Gabe's Place

Hanging out with Joshua Bell

2013-03-25T12:37:00.000Z

Hanging out with Joshua Bell

2013-03-24T20:30:00.001Z

Watch "Hangout with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields" on YouTube

Test for a Hangout

2013-03-21T19:23:00.001Z

The Bodyguard: The Musical - Reivew

2013-01-05T21:04:00.000Z

I went into The Bodyguard, currently playing at the Adelphi Theatre, fully expecting to hate it. After last year's horrible Ghost: The Musical, I was thought I was in for 3 hours of pain. By interval I found myself very pleasantly surprised by Thea Sharrock's glitzy production and by the end of the performance I had a big grin on my face.

The show, based on the movie of the same name features songs from the movie's soundtrack as well as other Whitney Houston classics. Unfortunately, when I saw the production Heather Headley, who plays Rachel Marron (the Whitney role), was off sick but her understudy, Gloria Onitiri, was more than up to the task. Ms Onitiri performed the role with confidence and with an incredible voice. Her performance developing throughout and her rendition of Dolly Parton's 'I will always love you', the production's 11 o'clock number, was beautifully and passionately sung.

As the titular bodyguard Lloyd Owen had suitable gravitas and dare I say it, sexiness. The role is not a strong one but Owen was able to bring a depth to what otherwise could have been a one dimensional character. Mark Letheren, as the unnamed villain of the piece, is suitably creepy to the point where he received boos at the curtain call having barely spoken during the show. Debbie Kurup, who plays Rachel's sister, gives a strong performance, proving herself to be a highlight of the evening. Unfortunately, the other character actors don't fare so well. American accents fluctuate and performances become over the top caricatures.

The show's script isn't The Bodyguard's strong point. Lawrence Kasdan has done what he can with fairly flimsy source material but ultimately the text fails to live up to the central performances. On the other hand, Tim Hatley's design is very impressive. The set opens and closes like lift doors revealing impressive feats of design. Notable mentions should go to the presentation of the mountain house onstage and to the Robert Lepage-esque 'top down' effects. This is certainly a spectacular looking production.

The Bodyguard isn't a great musical by any stretch of the imagination but it is certainly far better than Ghost, Mama Mia, We Will Rock You and any number of other Jukebox Musicals that have come out in the last few years. It is a highly entertaining production and one that I would be interested in seeing again with Heather Headley in the lead role. This is b-grade fun at its best.

The 'Theatrical Trailer' of the show

Heather Headley sings "I will always love you"

Daddy Long Legs: The Musical - A Review

2012-11-16T11:02:00.002Z

Not every musical needs to have a gaggle of high kicking chorus girls, flying effects of falling chandeliers. That was one of the key messages to be taken away from Daddy Long Legs: The Musical, which is currently playing at the new St James Theatre.

Based on Jean Webster's novel, written in 1912, Daddy Long Legs is the story of Jerusha Abbot, a young orphan who writes letters to a mysterious benefactor who pays for her tuition. She names him ‘Daddy Long Legs’ imagining him to be old and bald. In actual fact he is an eligible and good looking young bachelor from New York and, by ‘chance’, the uncle of one of Jerusha college roommates. The musical takes the framework of the novel and largely takes place as a series of letters being written or read by either of the two main characters. As the years go by we witness the development of both of these characters, Jerusha blossoming into a cultured suffragette and Jervis (Daddy Long Leg’s real name) develops a sense of humility and the ability to accept others.

John Caird, best known for his co-direction of Les Miserables and the RSC adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, takes dual roles here as book writer and director. His confident hand firmly steers the musical, allowing the story and the novels structure to take centre stage rather than over overstuffing it with complex production elements. There is a classical refinement to the simplicity and one that does justice to the much loved source material. The songs, with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, are pretty and tuneful with some nice leitmotifs and reprises running through the evening but ultimately they feel like there is not enough contrast. One plaintive song blends into the next and soon the audiences is ever so slightly hoping for a number with a different musical colour or tempo. The physical production with a set by David Farley is based in Jarvis’ library and uses old traveling cases moved about the stage to effectively signify changes in local.

Megan McGinnis plays Jerusha to perfection. Her voice has is sweet but powerful and she is clearly comfortable in the role having originated it in the 2009 production in Los Angeles. Robert Adelman Hancock as Jervis is equally strong. His tenor voice (with excellent falsetto) and a propensity to sing out of the right side of his mouth are reminiscent of a young Mandy Patinkin but the looks of Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. This is a strong cast who are able to bring the best out the text and production.

Daddy Long Legs plays at the St James theatre until the 8^th of December and is highly recommended for those looking for a charming chamber musical.

Damned by Damned by Desire

2012-10-05T14:12:00.000+01:00

I had been planning on making a blog / review comeback by writing about Damned by Desire, the latest play at The National Theatre. However, after seeing the production last night, I feel that writing about it would be a waste of time.

Simply put, this is an abhorrently bad piece of theatre. The physical production is more reminiscent of a high school play than the anything that should have ticket price associated with it. The acting choices are all over the shop. Bertie Carvel, who was so wonderful as the Trunchbull in Matilda, now just seems whiny and Sebastian Armesto’s performance is as thrilling as a wet fish. Topping everything off is the lighting design that had the performers spend most of the evening in shadows. Follow spots were directed to torsos not heads and the pools of light didn't cover the action. The whole production smacked of amateur hour.

Don’t even get me started about the unnecessary abseiling!

Avoid his production at all costs.

Spamalot - mini review

2012-08-11T22:41:00.002+01:00

Sorry it has been an age since I blogged. As some of you probably know I've been finishing off my thesis on Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark so I haven't had much time to either write about anything else or go see shows. I did however find the time go to see the new production of Spamalot playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre here in London last night. It was an enjoyable night but fairly forgettable.

For those who don't know, Spamalot is the music written by by ex-Monty Python Eric Idle based on their movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It has all the hallmarks of the Python humor complete with the Knights Who Say Ni, evil rabbits and coconuts. If you've seen the movie you know the plot and probably even some of the songs.

This is a new production and doesn't share many similarities with the Broadway production from several years ago, which I had the good fortune of seeing. The cast is very small and the set leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunate cast is in-ably lead by John Culshaw in the role of King Arthur. I don't know who cast this Culshaw as the lead but they need to be sack. Culshaw may be a fantastic mimic (he's one of the starts of the radio version of Dead Ringers) but he can't act and sucks the energy out of any scene. Luckily the rest of the cast manages to keep the show moving along. Special mention should go to Kit Orton for his Lancelot who managed to win over the audience every time he was onstage.

The script is as strong as ever but the production values simply aren't there. This is a touring production and it really shows. The set looks like it is made out of cardboard (not in a good way) and the costumes look cheap. I managed to pick up tickets to this £10 from lastminute.com and for that money I had a good night. If you're going to pay any more though may I recommend just watching this youtube film of the original production as performed by the Australian cast.

Crazy Culture week

2012-06-17T22:17:00.000+01:00

It has been a crazy culture week this week. I've seen Sweeney Todd, A Comedy of Errors, Antigone and the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern. If I had seen less this week I would probably review each of these but there simply isn't time so I'll be brief

Sweeney Todd was easily the highlight of the week. Sondheim's masterpiece is done justice in this production. The cast is tremendous and ably led by Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton. I'm definitely going to go see it again before it closes

A Comedy of Errors is as light and fluffy as Shakespeare gets. This production by the RSC is part of the World Shakespeare Festival. It is set in a war torn country and has an amazing set. It's quite a fun night but ultimately it's not a production that you're going to remember long after you leave the theatre.

Antigone at The National Theatre was difficult. I wanted to enjoy it, heck it starred ex-Doctor Christopher Eccleston, but ultimately it left me cold. Another great set utilizing the revolve in the Oliver theatre but I couldn't emotionally connect with the action onstage.

Damien Hirst is a genius. He has managed to make a living out of putting pharmaceuticals in shelves and calling it art. This is a challenging exhibition of one of Britain's most controversial artists. It's worth going to for the butterfly art alone (seen in the picture below). Other works, like the cow head being eaten by maggots left me feeling slightly uneasy.

Fiona Apple's new song, Every Single Night

2012-06-10T20:22:00.001+01:00

Because we all listened to her when we were young and emo

Prometheus: Follow up

2012-06-08T20:42:00.000+01:00

Lots of people have been talking about Prometheus. Is it good? Is it bad? I really enjoyed the discussion bellow that talked about several of the issues I had with the movie.

To see my original post about it click here

The Sunshine Boys: Mini-Review

2012-06-06T22:20:00.003+01:00

The name Danny DeVito doesn't scream classy London Theatre, and yet last Tuesday night when I saw The Sunshine Boys at The Savoy Theatre that's exactly what was onstage. Joining DeVito onstage for a was stage veteran Richard Griffiths, famous for his turns in The Meaning of Life, the Harry Potter series and The History Boys. The play of the evening was Neil Simon's 1972 vaudeville comedy The Sunshine Boys.

The play focuses on the lives of two retired Vaudeville stars, Willie Clark and Al Lewis, who have been asked to perform their most famous act one last time for a television special on CBS. The only stumbling block is that they haven't spoken in 11 years since Al, played by Griffiths, walked out on their partnership to retire to 'rural New Jersey'. Their reunion sparks a war of words as the bickering comedians each try to outdo the other. Willie with sardonic barbs and Al with sly wit.

Simon's script is exactly what you would expect of the theatrical master who wrote The Odd Couple. Its one-liners are exemplary and the characters are written to perfection. Thea Sharrock's direction is invisible but she gets the best out of both of her stars as well as the supporting characters. She manages to let the gags glide throughout the night, never getting in the way of the character study of these two men and their relationship. Hildegard Bechtler's set, largely made up of Willie's richly detailed but dilapidated hotel room, is evocative and suitably mood setting. It should be noted that Richard Griffiths's accent faltered at times, however, I'm happy to pay this price for theatre this polished.

Overall The Sunshine Boys is a great night in the theatre. The two leads give immaculate performances and whilst this might not be Neil Simon's greatest play it certainly stands the test of time and provides a belly full of laughs.

Clearly I write a nerdy blog

2012-06-06T21:13:00.002+01:00

Prometheus: The Review - Spoilers

2012-06-03T10:24:00.001+01:00

I've seen Prometheus! This review will contain spoilers so if you don't want to be spoilt then turn away.

Now ...

If you want to know the plot of Prometheus then may I suggest that you watch the following YouTube clip. These guys have looked at all the trailers (there were 28 of them) and put together a pretty good summary of the plot of the movie. There are some element that aren't right including the faux-Tom Hardy turning into an Engineer but overall the get the plot right beat for beat.

Overall I really enjoyed Prometheus. As the leads Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender do strong work particularly Fassbender who just seems to be on a quality roll. Ridley Scott direction and vision style are great as to be expected from such an established name. I saw the film in 2D, as is my general preference, so I can't comment on the 3D effects but the cinematography did feel suitably impressive.

The film moves at a fast pace. Most of the characters are archetypes (or stereotypes) and the plot, is fairly straight forward, even if some of the finer details are left to the imagination. You may not leave the theatre knowing exactly what has happened but you probably will work it out about 4 minutes later. Some characters aren't fleshed out and it certainly feels like there were moments when the writers are painting in broad brushstrokes, more interested in establishing a sense of mystery and mythology than characters. I imagine some of the conversations in the writers room went like this, 'let's make the captain cool and the geologist angry and covered in tattoos'

So is this film a prequel to Alien? Yes and no. Prometheus certainly leads indirectly into the Alien movies and is certainly set in the same universe. However, if you wanted to find out what immediately led up to the events of Alien then you'll still be wondering for a while. This isn't the story that Prometheus wants to tell. Prometheus is much more interested dealing with 'bigger' issues such as, can man (or engineers) play god, the costs of warfare and also notions of humanity. However, by the end of the movie I found that somehow the in the pursuit of bigger themes weighs down, which is otherwise a fun summer blockbuster.

If there was one negative to be levelled at the film is that it doesn't deal in subtleties. Whether that being Guy Pearce's make up (could they not just have cast an old man to play an old man?), "Where's my cross?" and the final scene.

It should be noted that Prometheus features one of the best and worst scenes of self surgery ever.

Finally, if you are interested in some theories on what actually happened, Den of Geek has a good breakdown HERE.

It's nice to know that your blog is being read for the right reasons

2012-05-23T20:36:00.000+01:00

I'm always surprised by the search terms that lead to my blog. Today I had a read who could only be disappointed by when they found.

Alas, I don't have anything about Lucy Lawless fucking unless they were reading my Spartacus reviews.

Ben Brantley - A great reviewer

2012-05-21T22:34:00.003+01:00

There are (rare) days that I disagree with Ben Brantley of the New York Times but today I love him.

In his article about standing ovations he writes:

"I would like to make the case, officially and urgently, for the return of the sitting ovation. Because we really have reached the point where a standing ovation doesn’t mean a thing. Pretty much every show you attend on Broadway these days ends with people jumping to their feet and beating their flippers together like captive sea lions whose zookeeper has arrived with a bucket of fish. This is true even for doomed stinkers that find the casts taking their curtain calls with the pale, hopeless mien of patients who have just received a terminal diagnosis."

Never truer words spoken

Where have I been?

2012-05-16T12:36:00.001+01:00

It's been several weeks since my last post. This is because I've been away traveling around Italy, first at a family wedding and then at a house in Montisi, Tuscany.

To tide you over until I'm back here is a picture of my surroundings.

20120427-001705

Rufus Wainwright's Out of the Game is coming...

2012-04-17T21:02:00.000+01:00

I'm getting myself prepared for the release of Rufus Wainwight's seventh studio album 'Out of the Game' and so should you. This album marks Rufus' return to pop music after 'Songs for Lulu' and his opera 'Prima Donna'. Add to this is the fact that Mark Ronson is producing the album and everyone who likes good music should be excited.

To get you and me in the mood here are four awesome videos.

The music video for the title track 'Out of the Game' starring Helena Bonham Carter

Rufus singing in a black cab

The album teaser for 'Out of the Game'

A promo interview

Kate Miller-Heidke: Nightflight Review

2012-04-17T20:03:00.000+01:00

Kate Miller-Heidke released a new album last week entitled 'Nightflight'. With her third studio album Kate has managed to top herself again. A big claim after the exceptional 'Curiouser'. I recently wrote a review of Miller-Heidke's concert in London, which can be accessed here. In that review I praised Miller-Heidke's whitty lyrics and incredible vocal ability and that winning combination has certainly carried across onto the new album.

The album continues Miller-Heidke's trend of bouncy pop songs that tell great stories. It begins strongly with the bouncy 'Ride this Feeling' that will certainly become a staple for starting for me walking to work. It certainly puts a spring in the step whenever I hear it. For those who listened to her previous efforts you will notice that Miller-Heidke hasn't reinvented the wheel but why should she? Her style is still effective and relevant.

The highlights of the album are 'Sarah' and the title track, 'Nightflight'. 'Sarah' is a personal account of Miller-Heidke loosing a friend at a music festival. The lyrics tell the story of a young girl terrified that her friend has been abducted "I hated that I let you down / but you left me on my own / why didn't you scream? / why didn't you shout?"Amazingly the song is poignant but never sappy.

'Nightflight' on the other hand tells of the yearning of an expat, like me. Tracing the events of a voyage home from london it features amusing lyrics such as 'I am 35 hours and three bad movies away / and if one more person coughs on me I'm gonna punch them in the face / oh no not really / I'll just hold my breath like always". I am constantly impressed by the versatility of Miller-Heidke as a song writer and these two songs, which feature one after the other on the album are some of her best and show the extent of her abilities.

Miller-Heidke's vocals are as strong as you would expect form a trained opera singer. Whilst mostly singing in the pop idiom she is still able to utilise a lot of the tools from her training, especially her impressive range in 'Humiliation'. As I have said before, it is refreshing to hear a pop singer who hasn't been auto-tuned beyond recognition. One of the only downfalls of the album, in my mind at least, is the cover photo. Miller-Heidke certainly looks stunning as always but I can't shake the feeling that she looks rather like Medusa.

If you can't tell I highly recommend buying this album on iTunes (or wherever) but if you wanted a sample of the songs before committing definitely download 'Nightflight'. Kate Miller-Heidke is definitely a testament to what happens when the Australian music industry gets it right.

Cabin is the Goods: The Review

2012-04-14T11:47:00.002+01:00

If you haven't seen Cabin in the Woods yet, go see it now! Right now!

I don't plan on spoiling anything in this review (except for the spoilery list at the end) but it's inevitable that something I write will impact your viewing of the movie and this is a movie that should really be seen before people ruin it for you by telling you what happened.

You think you know the story, teenagers go to a cabin in the woods, unleash a curse and die.... except you don't ... but you do. From the first shot of the film it is clear that writers Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (also the director) are up to something here, something magnificent. For a start this film has Bradley Whitford from The West Wing and Richard Jenkins from Six Feet Under in it. It's clearly not just your average generic horror movie where teens get slaughtered. It's hard to say how it all fits together without spoiling things but it does and it does it well. People have been saying that this film is a "game changer" and whilst I don't think I would go that far, I will say that this is better than any new horror film made in the last few years.

As to be expected from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard the writing is great, both the structure and the dialogue. The dialogue has Whedon-verse elements to it but not so much that would be off putting to non fans. The casting (some of which I have already mentioned) is also brilliant with plenty of Whedon-verse cameos as well as a few completely unexpected ones from the genre. Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Jesse William (Grey's Anatomy) bring the man power to the team and Anna Hutchison (um ... Power Rangers) brings hot sexiness to everything she does, even making out with taxidermy. Kirsten Connolly as the lead is good with big anime eyes and plenty of the every-girl about her that Whedon loves exploring. Rounding out the teen elements of the cast is Frans Kranz from Dollhouse as the stoner, who may be smarter than he looks.

The tone of the movie is a careful balance between full on horror and ... well that would be spoiling it.

The things that are great (contains vague spoilers)

- Franz Kantz's bong
- The scene in the basement just wanting to know what they pick
- The casting of the intern
- Did that list say unicorns? Half an hour later this is confirmed
- The revelation about the Japanese girls
- I bought some tickets because I thought you liked ...
- Merman
- The Director - she did it again

So now, what are you doing? Go out and see this movie! To get you in the mood here is the trailer...

Marks and Spencer's Soup

2012-04-12T21:17:00.000+01:00

This is going to be my most boring blog post and I make no apologies for it, except for this acknowledgement.

I've been eating a lot of the Marks and Spencer soups for lunch over the last few weeks (a sign of re-entering the working world if ever I saw one) and some of them are great but others are awful. Today as I was eating the Carrot and Coriander Soup I was practically gagging and I wished someone had ordered the soups from good to bad because clearly there are some shit ones out there. So I thought I would do it for all of you soup eaters out there, I would sacrifice my stomach and eat as many of them as possible. I'll update this as I continue to eat them.

Here is the break down.

The Good

Paella Soup, Spicy Lental Soup, Mushroom

The OK

Butternut Squash, Mushroom Chicken and Rice

The Bad

Carrot and Coriander (it tastes like chlorine)
Chunky Vegetable (it tastes like its chlorine that has been in the toilet)

Am I missing any good ones? Should I avoid any? What should I use to clean the toilet with?

Dear 'Game of Thrones' , I'm breaking up with you.

2012-04-04T22:20:00.000+01:00

I'm breaking up with you, Game of Thrones.

For a while there I thought we were going to be the perfect match. You, an intelligent fantasy series with great production values, a great story, great credit sequence and great acting. Me, a late twenties geeks who loves all those things. Unfortunately, whilst I was blinded to your flaws at first but a little bit of separation has made me realise how much I hate you.

Hate is a strong word I know, but I really do. You tease me all the time with the concept of action and yet every scene of every episode consists of 7 people sitting or standing around an object (usually a table) talking about things that are taking place somewhere else. You tease me constantly with phrases like "the winter is coming" and "we have dragons on our side" but what you really mean is "the winter is coming in season seven" and "we can't afford to show big dragons". You being passive is not enough for me. I need action!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a slow paced show. I love Mad Men and The Killing, but Game of Thrones you take the cake. Too often I find myself asking "Who is that character? Who are they talking about? Which king do they want dead?"

I love Peter Dinklage and have done since he was in "Nip/Tuck" and "Death at a Funeral" (the original English version) but even a funny dwarf can't make me love this show. For god sakes, the most action that happened in the season opener was a horse dying of thirst. If I wanted to see a horse dying I'd watch Luck! You tell us that one of the Snow children has won four battles but why don't you show some of the battles? Why?

Anyway, it's time for us to go our separate ways. In a way I really hope that somehow you change your behaviour and we can have great make up ... viewing but deep in my heart I know these flaws are built in your DNA.

So long...

Gabe

PS not even this awesome Simpsons opener makes me like you more

The Hunger Lames: The Review

2012-04-01T15:33:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday last week, like the rest of the world, I went and saw The Hunger Games. For those who have been hiding under a rock for the last few years The Huger Games is the first in a series of young adult novels written by Suzanne Collins. The series centres around Katniss Everdeen, a young woman who volunteers to enter ' The Hunger Games' in order to protect her sister. The only problem is that 'The Hunger Games' themselves are a vicious fight to the death. Like Thunderdome, 24 children walk in and only one walks out. The plot has a few twists and turns on the way but you get the general idea.

The books are highly addictive and I read the whole series in the space of about a week but I found the movie strangely disengaging. The script did a great job, not only of bringing the story to life but also weaving in some elements that need to be set up for the later instalments that the first book could have done with. In particular the movie established the politics much better than the first book. I really got a sense in the movie that the games were a political weapon and one that was beginning to backfire, which is something that was only really brought up, suddenly, in the last book.

The cast are all well suited to their roles and similar to what I had visualised when reading the book. The young actors all do good work, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, who basically has to carry the whole film. Having said that I did find Liam Hemsworth slightly too attractive for the role of Gale, who I had always pictured as slightly less ... athletic. Those Hemsworth boys certainly have great genes.

Now onto the three things that I not only hated but feel ruined the whole movie going experience. The first is shaky cam. Whoever thinks that this is a great innovation for cinematography needs to get out of the business. Just like in the Bourne movies and the last James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, the constantly shaking camera and fast edits makes it virtually impossible to ever see what is going on, particularly in the action sequences. It's not just the action sequences though. Even in simple dialogue seems the camera moves around like the camera man is having a fit. Please please please can we not have this style of filmmaking anymore?

My next gripe has to do with the violence, or lack thereof. The book is tense and violent, it is about kids killing other kids so it has to be violent. The moment is so sanitised that it is almost ridiculous. There is no blood in the movie other than the sight of some scrapes and grazes. Obviously this has to do with trying to get a low rating and have as wide an audience as possible but it has come at the detriment of the overall story. Because the violence all takes place off screen the audience never feels that there is a threat to Katniss. All the tension in the book dissipates and the story is far worse off because of it.

Finally, I was disappointed by how the film makers chose to handle to the final moments of the games. I don't want to go into too much detail for fear of spoilers but for those who have seen the movie it is the moment with the berries. This is a profound emotional beat in the novel. In the movie, this moment is flippant and over in the space of about 10 seconds. It devalues the whole journey that Katniss and the audience have gone on and left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

Anyway, those are just MY thoughts. What did you think? If you want to see something better than The Hunger Games then try to get a copy of Battle Royal, a Japanese film with a similar story, which is handled MUCH better.

Behind the scenes at Disney:The Sweatbox.

2012-03-23T14:06:00.003Z

There's an amazing film traveling the interwebs at the moment. It's a documentary called "The Sweatbox" and it is about the making of the animated film Kingdom of the Sun or The Emperor's New Groove as it would later morph into.

It's a fascinating film, showing the ups and downs of the development process and in intervention, for better or worse, of the executives. Wiki describes the documentary thusly:

"Trudie Styler, a documentarian, had been allowed to film the production of Kingdom of the Sun/The Emperor's New Groove as part of the deal that originally brought her husband Sting to the project. As a result, Styler recorded on film much of the struggle, controversy, and troubles that went into making the picture (including the moment when producer Fullmer called Sting to inform the pop star that his songs were being deleted from the film). Styler's completed documentary, The Sweatbox, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2002. Disney owns the rights to the documentary and has not released it on home video or DVD"

I've linked to the YouTube video below but who knows how long it will stay up for as I would imagine that Disney want it down ... soon!

UPDATE: Unfortunately the video has been removed by Disney so you won't be able to see it any more. :(

John Carter ...of blahs: The Review

2012-03-16T15:55:00.003Z

I went and saw John Carter at the BFI IMAX last night. I was quite excited because the word on the interwebs was that it was:

a) based on a great series of books by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs
b) the action live directorial debut of Pixar king Andrew Stanton
c) a great big sci-fi epic on a giant scale

It was all of those things but unfortunately I wasn't sold on the whole production. The main problem for me was the story. I was going in fresh, having never read and of the John Carter books or done any research and to me the story was a muddle. Of course the overall story arch was strong. Boy meets girl, boy fights for girl, boy wins war and girl is hard to do wrong but there was so much going on around that plot that I struggled to follow it all.

For those that don't know the plot, it goes something like this. John Carter, a civil war soldier played by Friday Night Lights alum Taylor Kitsch, gets magically transported to the planet mars. There he has super strength because of the change in gravitational forces, which makes him a great fighter. John has many adventures that involve him jumping and fighting things. Along the way he meets many aliens, befriends some of them, fights with others then saves a princess who wears a bikini and is being attacked / married to get rid of her knowledge of the 9th light, whatever that is.

If that sounds like a muddle thats because it was. It was unclear to me who the villains of the piece were. Was it the shapeshifting blue-ish people or the warlord they were 'influencing'? Was he merely a pawn in their game or evil in and of himself? Was the blue string-cheese (not what it is called rather what it looks like) weapon ever explained?

Everything in the movie was well acted and the special effects were top notch but because the story wasn't clear it all amounted to something of a blah experience. The only thing that was clear was how much the filmmakers loved showing off Taylor Kitsch's nipples (why wouldn't you though?). The film had some very revealing outfits worn by Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, as the Martian princess, which meant that Kitsch's nipples spent 90% of the movie exposed and on screen. It should also be noted that Lynn Collins will also be giving Carrie Fischer a run for her money in the 'best sci-fi bikini outfit of all time' awards at next year's San Diego Comicon.

If you are after a good looking large scale action movie then this is for you, just don't expect to follow along with the plot unless you are well versed in the mythology already. On a side note I really wish film companies would tell you if a film was a post-3D conversion or if it was actually shot in 3D. One of the key reasons I went to see the film at IMAX was because I thought it had been shot in 3D, however, this was clearly not the case and I find the flat characters generally distracting from the film.

The one thing the film did do is make me want to go back and read some of the books. Interestingly the first four books in the series are available free from the iTunes bookstore, which you can access by clicking here.

Here's a trailer for the film ...

Google+ Discoveries

2012-03-15T11:10:00.002Z

You might recall the other day I wrote a piece about why people should try Google+ (again). Yesterday I was invited to live tweet/update a conference about Google+ and branding. It was a very interesting experience. For those of you who don't want to trawl through the updates I did (posting as Communicate Magazine) I thought I would give you a summary because a lot of things came up that I wasn't aware of and it might be interesting for you all to read.

The main thing that came out of the conference is that Google isn't treating Google+ as a social network. Whilst it might feel like a social network it is actually used to supplement Google's main product, searching. That sounds crazy but let's break it down into two different perspectives, the individuals and the companies.

The Individuals

You might think that Google+ is just like Facebook and Twitter in that it lets you hear from the people you want to hear from, tell people what you want to tell them and share photos etc. This is true, it does do that, however, what you may not be aware is that because Google+ is becoming the consistent login across all Google products (Search, YouTube, Blogger, Maps etc) Google is using the information you post, '+1' and share to refine your searches. Already in the US search is being divided into personal search and universal search with personal search obviously being the search results that are best designed for you as an individual.

That sounds a bit abstract so let me give you an example. Let's take the Zelda games by Nintendo. Say you type "Zelda" into google right now. The results I get look something like this:

Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia is the number one result and we work down from there. However, let's say you are active on Google+ and interact with gaming site IGN regularly, by this I mean '+1'ing them and sharing their post. When you go back to search it is likely that Google will recognise this as your personal preference and increase their ranking in your search results because google will recognise that you value reviews over wikis. The result is that being active on Google+ means you are going to get a more targeted search result.

The Companies

This is actually where it gets very interesting. In the similar way that Google+ targets individuals search results Google+ also dramatically effects author ranking and content ranking for companies. How does this work?

Say you're a running the marketing for a brand, you have a Facebook page, a Twitter Account and a Google + page. All of those pages provide you with website traffic but only one of them, Google+ actually affects your Author Rank. Every time someone '+1's you or interacts with your postings this affects Google's search algorithm. Not just that individual's personalised search (as above) but your overall search rankings. This is very important for up and coming brands. Google+ is still a fresh social network so it is still possible to make a large impact there before the big brands come in and take over.

So how can you carve our a niche for you and your brand? The consensus at the conference was the usual information: great unique content, interact regularly, provide value. That's nothing new of course but they weren't the key items discussed. The main factors in Google+'s favour were Hangouts and Circles.

Hangouts, for those who don't know, is an amazing FREE web conferencing package that comes with Google+. It may simply be a one-on-one call between friends that is private to a giant conversation with a celebrity that is run through your browser so there is no need for Skype or any other software. It is very simple, cheap to use and highly effective. If you want an example have a look at what will.i.am is doing with it. You can see that he interacts with his fans regularly, even at concerts. Strictly speaking he is using Hangouts OnAir, a subset of Hangouts. At the moment Hangouts OnAir are being beta tested with celebrities and brands that have large Google+ followings but soon these will be available for everyone. The advantage of OnAir is that you can record your Hangouts and leave them on YouTube and your page for people to come back and watch later.

Circles are another great way to target your marketing. At the moment Twitter and Facebook only allow you to communicate with everyone who is following you. Through circles you can target you information to only those who want to hear about particular elements, thereby not overloading them with information and alienating customers. Take this screen shot of Cadbury's Google+ account for instance (who for the record have amazing content). Once you follow them you can pick the type of chocolate you like and they will tailor their updates based on that choice.

This is a very powerful tool and one area where Google+ stands far above the competition.

So that is all from me and the conference. It is true that at the moment Google+ is a bit of a niche network of people and companies but this will change over time as all Google profiles become Google+ profiles . It's not a perfect platform but that is a) ripe for conquering and b) has great potential. But what do I know? I'm just an Arts Management person!