Updates

It's been a busy week, post Meredith, and as you'll have noticed I haven't been posting a lot. There's been the usual things going on - work, writing, Board obligations, that sort of thing, but it's all a bit dull and I'm sure you don't want to hear about it.

Some of the more interesting activities I've got up to this week have included:

• Telling the Managing Director at Evolution Publishing that I'd be interested in throwing my hat into the ring when Troy Gurr, the editor at MCV, steps down in February. It would mean a few changes in my life, taking over as the editor of the paper instead of just working there two days a week, but I think I'm ready for that.

• Attending the launch of the Midsumma Festival on Wednesday night, and the final week of the Short & Sweet short play festival immediately afterwards at the Arts Centre. This Sunday night is the Gala final performance and awards presentation - I'll be presenting the Media Judges' award, so say hi if you see me there. Week Three of Short & Sweet was, I'm sad to say, the worst week yet, especially the first five plays before the interval, which I scored very low indeed.

• Lunch with several members of the Board of Directors of the Melbourne International Arts Festival on level 41 of the Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday, together with their newly appointed General Manager (very new indeed - she'd been in the job for four hours!) Kristy Edmunds, the festival director, and several other hand-picked members of Melbourne's 'most important and influential' arts media (stop it, I'm blushing). The occasion was the announcement that Edmunds had accepted an additional and unprecedented fourth year as Artistic Director of MIAF - and judging by some of the antagonistic questions from at least one member of the media present, not everyone was happy with the idea. Alison Croggon at Theatre Notes explores the issue further...

Catching up on a couple of films:

• The fascinating documentary Hunt Angels, about Australia's own Ed Wood, film-maker Rupert Kathner, which employs animated black and white still photographs to bring 1930's and 1940's Australia to life; not an entirely successful film, but still one which engaged my interest, and which definitely taught me more about the era in question.
• The lacklustre, limp and muddled The Black Dahlia, directed with little flair, let alone any evidence of interest and engagement with the story by Brian De Palma; and featuring a hopelessly miscast pretty-boy Josh Hartnett as a boxer-turned-cop in 1947 Los Angeles. The screenplay tries to cram too much of James Ellroy's complex plot into the film; there's absolutely zero chemistry between Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, as his pouting love interest Kay Lake; and several of the supporting cast chew up so much of the scenery that it's a wonder there were any sets left by the time they finished shooting the film. Save for one or two superb tracking shots - such as the scene where the body of the Black Dahlia is discovered - there's very little to recommend in this movie. By the way, Ellroy's novel was based on an actual murder, which you can learn about here, if you care to.
  
• The new James Bond film, Casino Royale. I've never been a Bond fan; I've never seen any of the previous installments in the franchise at the cinema, and I suspect the most recent Bond film I saw was 1964's Goldfinger. Nonetheless, I was intrigued to see this film because of the furore over its casting, and because of claims the cliche had been stripped away from the plot, leaving it a leaner, meaner film. It's still a Bond film, replete with chases, cars and flashy set-pieces, but it was entertaining, in a banal sort of way. Some superb fight scene and action sequence choreography and editing, however. Too long, though - the last 15-20 minutes definitely needed trimming.