Andy Ruminations

The nations come to King Street, Newtown ...

Have you ever wandered down King Street, Newton and counted just how many countries are represented in all the various shops in that long inner-city strip?

posted by Andy M @ 11:53 pm 13 comments

Australian Film Industry - part 2

Further thoughts on the Aussie film industry ...

I mentioned in my earlier post that it's not all necessarily bad - plenty of Aussie actors, directors, cinematographers etc are out there competing on the world stage and getting all the accolades.

Of course, the problem is that while our talent is being well used, not many "Australian" stories are being told on the big screen. Our actors are getting excellent roles, huge accolades and massive pay packets, but usually with an American accent (though I did notice that Russell Crowe's Maximus still retained a distinctly Aussie accent). And their fees end up being so high that the local, small budget productions can no longer afford the big stars.

The Herald ran a blog about this earlier this week: where's our modern Aussie big screen heroes, our Crocodile Dundee of the new millenium, our distinctively Aussie characters and stories?

posted by Andy M @ 11:02 am 1 comments

Dan Brown on faith ...

Langdon smiled. 'Sophie, every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. ...'

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

posted by Andy M @ 10:49 am 1 comments