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TIM MILFULL speaks with program director BRONWYN KIDD and one of her short film contributors, Brisbane-based animator ANDREW MARTIN, about the FLICKERFEST NATIONAL TOUR 2012.
He was once known as the affable loser, but now DANIEL HENSHALL is anything but. As OLIVIA STEWART discovers when asking about his role in comedy ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN?, despite a monstrous profile boost thanks to Snowtown, the 28-year-old remains likeably modest.
Last year, Batman: Arkham City was sold with a voucher that had to be redeemed online to access the game’s bonus content (in that case, the ability to play as Catwoman), as a way of combating the growth of second-hand sales. Those who bought the game second-hand have to pay extra to access that portion of the game. Rumour has it that the next-generation Xbox that Microsoft are currently working on will have some kind of activation system to simply disallow the playing of second-hand games. Whether that’s true or not, finding ways to punish those who don’t buy new are becoming popular. Snowboarding game SSX, when it comes out, will come with an online pass useable only by the person who originally bought the game, without which bonus items you can unlock for your character won’t be available – unless you pay extra.
It’s A Me, Again
After turning around the disappointing sales of the 3DS by releasing two nostalgic Mario games in a row, you won’t believe what Nintendo are doing next – releasing another nostalgic Mario game! The game doesn’t have a release date beyond “the next fiscal year”, but it will apparently be a 2D side-scrolling platformer. Also coming out on the 3DS from Nintendo this year: Luigi’s Mansion 2, Paper Mario and Mario Tennis.
You Got To Move It
A standalone Kinect For Windows unit has been launched in America, bringing motion controls to the PC. According to The Daily, Microsoft have entered into a deal with computer manufacturer ASUS to create a line of laptops that come with Kinect sensors built in. Presumably you won’t have to stand several metres away from the screen to use it, as you do with the Xbox version.
No Dice For Quarrel
Quarrel started as a smartphone game that plays like Scrabble reimagined as a strategic wargame. More recently, it’s been released on the Xbox Live Arcade. To meet the strict approval standards of Microsoft it had to have certain words filtered so that they can’t be created by players in-game. They include some that you might expect to be banned, like ‘poop’, ‘balls’, ‘shaft’, ‘hung’ and ‘god’, but also some whose removal is inexplicable, like ‘dice’, ‘start’ and ‘help’.
Game Review
ASSASSIN’S CREED: REVELATIONS
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Platform: PS3 / PC / 360
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
The story of everyone’s favourite assassin continues, with Ezio Auditore following the trail of everyone’s second favourite assassin, Altaïr, as Desmond (everyone’s least favourite protagonist) unlocks the secrets of his ancestor’s lives through the Animus, a machine that reveals memories through ancestral DNA.
You take control of Ezio once again and, at certain points of the game, Altaïr, in the fourth full instalment of this sandbox-style action/adventure. Ubisoft Montreal have left the core of the game largely unchanged, which is not entirely a bad thing.
Traversing the rich, detailed environments with parkour-styled movements, deciding the path to and assassinating your target is still immensely satisfying. The missions are more varied and entertaining too. An early highlight sees Ezio hide in plain sight as a travelling minstrel, and an awful one at that, with lines like: “Oh, the beauties of Valencia can melt a heart you see / Beware the girls of Roma, lest fire you wish to pee.”He sings and plays his lute, distracting the crowds as fellow assassins sneak in to take out their targets, until Ezio is forced to take out the last target with a stake fashioned from his broken lute.
Among the things that Ubisoft manages to do well with Assassin’s Creed, there are still some obvious issues. The swordplay is far too basic and after using the same attack, block, dodge, grab and counter combinations becomes incredibly boring and repetitive.
With each instalment Ubisoft continually add more gadgets and actions like the new parkour method of avoiding the crowds and guards, a ‘sweep-the-leg’ move, a hook for sliding down ropes and ascending faster, and a number of different bombs. The controls are now far too complex and at times I needed an extra, concealed finger to reach out and press the X button. Ubisoft have also implemented a real-time strategy tower defence minigame in order to break things up. Ezio commands a team of assassins to defend a position, which serves its purpose but does so with the depth of an iPhone game. Wasted potential and something to avoid, if you can.
Developers should be continually improving on an idea, but there is only so much that can be added until what you have is giant mess. Instead of addition, Assassin’s Creed needs some subtraction or finality, especially when it comes to the plot turns of the story. I’ll try to bring you up to speed, if only to prove my point. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations continues directly on from the events of Brotherhood. Desmond is in a coma due to his over-exposure to the Animus, which has been reset to a safe mode so he can repair his fractured mind by travelling deeper into the unfinished memories of Ezio’s time in Constantinople in 1511. Ezio is racing against The Knights Templars to track down the five hidden keys that unlock Altaïr’s secret library in Masyaf. The keys themselves reveal the actions of Altaïr… Assassin’s Creed is needlessly confusing. The core gameplay, the visuals and atmosphere of life in a 15th century city are so fantastic that this complication is uncalled-for. That is unless Ubisoft are trying to stretch an idea that would have made a fantastic trilogy until it’s earned as much money as it can even after it stops making sense. Ubisoft wouldn’t do that, would they?
With Superbowl drawing closer and closer, American football fans count down in anticipation to the big event. Advertising enthusiasts are also getting ready, with the best ads of the year usually aired during the event. Due to the massive numbers the game attracts, advertising for 30 second spot can cost around $3 million dollars, or $100,000 a second, meaning agencies bring their A-game on the night. Companies also release ‘teaser ads’ in the lead-up to the big spot, with Volkswagen this year kicking off with The Bark Side, a cute as hell video continuing the company’s widely successful Star Wars theme from last year with a chorus of dogs barking the movies’ music. The spot was directed by Keith Schofield, who's done a range of music videos (including that weird Duck Sauce one). Check out the spot on YouTube. The big game happens Feb 5, so find a good ad blog and get the hot wings ready.
Making History
The FWA (Favourite Website Awards) recognises the best sites on the Internet with daily, monthly and yearly awards. The site voted the best page of 2011 The Museum Of Me, which was made for Intel. The webpage, created by Japanese agency Projector Inc, allows users to view their Facebook content in a new way. It compiles your pictures, comments, locations and friends and walks you though a virtual gallery containing them all. It’s pretty narcissistic, but judging by its popularity, pretty on point. Visit the ‘museum of you’ by heading to museumofme.intel.com.
Cryptonomicon-And-On
If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to learn a new skill, and you have an interest in the internet (who doesn’t) then it’s worth your while to check out Code Year; a free course that promises to teach users enough code to build apps and websites by the end of 2012. The venture comes via codecademy, a New York start-up, and sets weekly tasks for students to complete. So far 369,788 (and counting) users have signed up for 2012, including the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg. You’ve still got enough time to get started this year with only four tasks set so far, so head to codeyear.com to sign up.
Fat Tony Will Eat Your Frosties
Ron English is still in the vinyl toy game and has a new figure coming out soon. Fat Tony shares a very striking resemblance to Frosted Flakes’ Tony The Tiger and is no doubt a comment on the sugar-rich contents of many cereals. The tubby little fella will be released in an edition of five hundred, with a couple of extra special editions limited to one hundred. Ron recently planted fake cereal boxes in supermarkets throughout America with names like Sugar Diabetic Bear, Sugar Frosted Fat and Cereal Killer. No word on a release date yet, but keep an ear to the ground if a comical fat tiger is just what your collection is missing.
STEFANIE O’DEA is an up and coming fashion designer and stylist from Brisbane who recently graduated from QUT. BRIANA WALL attended the graduate parade and just had to pick her brain about her beautiful collection.
Mandy Beaumont’s new chapbook is stellar, splendid, magnificent and complex. Good. I have that out of way.
The poems are lyrical in style: highly personal and potently abstract. On the other hand, they also fit within a narrative structure. Each poem centres around the story of a nameless she that changes from poem to poem; the narrator carefully watches these people, tries to help them, connect, but is inevitably distanced by that metaphorical window, the text. She can but look in/on as these women live.
The stories mostly concern harmful or finishing relationships, but the blame is never lumped onto the woman, either for failing themselves or for failing to kick the abuser/user out the door. But, most importantly, the poems never fail to acknowledge and express the pleasure that these women experience, in amongst even the bad relationships and oblivious partners. In The Heat Of Heaven’s Wild, the protagonist luxuriates in the physical and mental ache after good sex – even when the partner is transient. She’s “very far away in thinking / that he can give her anything real.” Real here just refers to his physical presence; but the poem then goes on to question the importance of this lack. The narrator reminds the protagonist that “he’s given her thousands of Coleridge love heart lines / the image of him perfect in climax;” the protagonist realises that, even if he is gone for now, the “heart burning heat ardour for him” still riots through her days. It gives the status of reality to this transient relationship. Even when he’s gone, her pleasure remains real and tangible. The poem validates the pleasure this woman feels; it doesn’t turn her sexuality into a pathology because she doesn’t intend to marry the man.
Hope runs through these poems, even at their bleakest. The narrator, while unable to affect these women directly, still provides solidarity as a silent witness, if only by her understanding, care and sensitivity of portrayal. Indeed, the opening poem directly addresses the she’s of the text, saying that yes you “must bear” the “great weight of the moon,” the simple fact of their sex – in a world where that’s enough to endanger you; but there is also always the possibility of new “beginnings,” of power reclaimed, and pleasure grasped.
JEREMY THOMPSON
IT’S SO EASY (AND OTHER LIES) – Duff McKagan
(Orion)
Ex-Gunners/Velvet Revolver bassist gets all reflective
Duff McKagan is a token reformed rocker with a CV that reads like Bible to every longhair. It was him who got together the classic Guns N’ Roses line-up and remained the LA titans’ musical director until they turned into a bloated self-parody. Hell, his first name was even immortalised in The Simpsons as the omnipresent Duff beer (already boasting a beer-monster rep by the time GN’R took off, he agreed on a whim after being approached by Matt Groening’s people). How could he not have plenty of saucer-eye-inducing yarns?
In many ways, It’s So Easy paints a classic (rock) rags-to-riches story. While not quite as warts-and-all as Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt or Anthony Kiedis’s Scar Tissue, it still contains enough gritty/gross-out moments to keep the reader entertained. Growing up in a middle-class Seattle family beset by problems (McKagan’s parents divorced early), the young Duff quickly abandons school in favour of punk rock, playing bass in scores of local bands and generally “keeping it real”. By the time he hits 20, he realises there isn’t much to do in his recession/heroin-stricken hometown and heads south to LA; cue living in squalor, battling cockroaches at night, often starving, but rock & rolling – and partying – hard.
A skilled survivor, our hero is generous enough to share a couple signature recipes from his days as a restaurant cook before shifting into fifth gear when Appetite For Destruction breaks big. His account of the Gunners’ world domination puts as much focus on the loss of spark, inter-band rifts and Axl Rose’s notoriously volatile ego as on Slash’s, Steven Adler/Matt Sorum’s and his own worsening drug and alcohol habits. Having barely lasted a day without a drink or 20 since teenage years, McKagan goes sober following a near-fatal pancreas rupture in 1994. Upon devising a rigorous recovery program – first mountain biking, then martial arts – he puts his life back on track: finds love; has kids; begins studying finance at Seattle University sans high school certificate … and that’s where the book starts to get boring. Save for the mentions of Scott Weiland’s Velvet Revolver-era shenanigans, the rock & roll tales stop and we are instead regaled with assorted “happy Duff” testimonials. Nonetheless, there’s enough juicy stuff here for anyone who likes their scales pentatonic.
***½
DENIS SEMCHENKO
POWDERFINGER: FOOTPRINTS – Dino Scatena
(Hatchette)
Going behind the scenes at the ‘Finger Factory
Despite a 22-year history and at least a decade as one of the biggest bands in the country, Powderfinger always managed to maintain a reasonably controlled image. Internal feuding largely remained just that – internal – and the band’s five members managed a modicum of privacy alongside their massive public exposure. Perhaps that’s why, as a fan of the band and someone who owns six of their seven studio albums (I didn’t buy Dream Days…), I was always going to want to read Dino Scatena’s book, and it’s exactly the ‘inside story’ that the cover promises.
The ‘finger are candid about their rehearsal room scuffles, drug and alcohol indulgences, and the question of ‘Why did they break up? And who was responsible?’ is clearly answered. Beyond the more sensationalist insights, Footprints spends a lot of time fleshing out the backstory to the band’s success; indeed, the first two thirds of the volume deal with the lead-up to the group’s breakthrough second album, Double Allergic, in 1996 (including how close Polydor came to dropping the act following the disappointing response to their debut, Parables For Wooden Ears). But Scatena does more than simply paint a portrait of the group; he also brings into focus the Brisbane music scene from which they emerged and some of their contemporaries.
This is achieved by going beyond merely interviewing the band. The making of Footprints saw interviews with friends, families, acts the ‘finger toured with, record label execs and a stint for Scatena on the band’s farewell tour. There is also an extensive collection of photos and posters, as well as an innovative barcode system that allows you to pull up video clips on your smartphone as you read. As a result, it feels like as complete a picture as one can build in 300-odd pages. For fans, this new level of access to the band is a real treat, but this is a book that even non-fans of Powderfinger could pick up for an easy and engaging read.
NILS HAY
THE ROLLING STONE YEARS – Baron Wolman
(Omnibus Press)
Legendary rock snapper’s engrossing pictures-and-stories tome
Often praised for his innate ability to capture the essence of live music performance on film, veteran US photographer Baron Wolman has a plethora of iconic shots to his name. His autobiography The Rolling Stone Years (recently given its own ‘world tour’ with a series of launches and gallery exhibitions around the globe) is a fascinating read, rich on humour, rock & roll anecdotes – yet above all, it triumphs at putting humanity into artistry.
“Baron says he’s in the “recycling business.” I say he’s still selling dreams,” lifelong associate Jerry Hopkins states in his foreword. The book begins with the hero doing freelance advertising jobs in ‘60s San Francisco – the city that eventually became one the world’s most vibrant pop and rock music hubs of the era. Hardly young enough to join the revolution, the 30-year old Wolman met and struck a deal with Rolling Stone’s founding editor Jann Wenner (nine years his junior) in 1967. The union proved pivotal, with the photojournalist diving straight into the San Francisco music scene and amassing a multitude of big-name assignments.
Having become RS’s chief snapper, Wolman’s shots often ended up on the magazine’s cover – which meant the artist had it made. Over just a few years, his clients counted Jimi Hendrix (whose ‘in-full-flight’ portrait adorns the front cover), George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, James Brown, B.B. King and Miles Davis to name a few. The era-defining Woodstock photos capture the ‘peace & love’ atmosphere with a stunning degree of accuracy, while stills of the infamous Altamont festival paint a remarkably gloomy, bad vibes-laden day.
Post-RS, Wolman took up fashion and sports photography, establishing his own publication Rags and chronicling Oakland Raiders’ 1974 season. Having documented the landmark late ‘70s Day On The Green outdoor concert series in Oakland, he basically pioneered large-scale stadium rock photography, with the featured high-resolution aerial, crowd and stage shots still breathtaking 30-odd years on. An inspirational account of an inspirational man.
****½
DENIS SEMCHENKO
BIZOO: THE BEST, THE WORST & THE TRASH THAT NEVER MADE IT
(Independent)
Five years and 25 issues in one book
This book documents the Bizoo Era, 2001–2006, which ended when many of us didn’t even know it had begun. Those Brisbanites who suspect that civilisation ends somewhere before you get to Ipswich may not have known it, but for those five years, Bizoo was Toowoomba. Not just a catalogue of the music scene, this zine essentially created it. Bizoo’s founder Dr Jerm was a tireless organisers of concerts and festivals, as you can see by flicking through the many photos and write-ups that have made it into this final summary of the era. The shot of Parkway Drive playing to a pack of gig-starved teenagers on a verandah sums it up best. Alongside those are collected shit-stirring articles about terrible local cover bands, how drunk a band should get before playing and a restaurant review of a feed-the-homeless program. Bands are interviewed, gigs are reviewed and local authority figures are riled up. The contributors seem proud not to own a single dictionary between them, but the passion oozes off the page. Things that wouldn’t be written about anywhere else, like the piece on the town’s reaction to the sexual assault and murder of Tarmara Smith, are fascinating to read especially years down the track with notes about the reactions they caused to give a sense of perspective. All that plus it’s wrapped in a cover by Sam McKenzie, who draws the very best gig posters around.
Now that the weather looks to be clearing up, don’t forget Moonlight Cinema still has three weeks to go. The New Farm Park-based outdoor cinema has a preview screening of Roman Polanski’s Carnage on Thursday Feb 9, plus favourites like Dirty Dancing on Saturday Feb 11 and a host of recent hits like The Adventures Of Tintin, The Descendants and Red Dog. Check program and ticketing details at www.moonlight.com.au.
Watch eye-opening multi-award-winning international and local films at the Brisbane Queer Film Festival from Friday Apr 13 until Sunday Apr 22 at Brisbane Powerhouse. Film subjects range from French porn stars and Iran’s death penalty for homosexuals to American rock stars and a heart-warming musical. The opening night party kicks off after the musical Leave It On The Floor with DJs and more. Check out www.brisbanepowerhouse.organd www.bqff.com.aufor further info.
Calling all designers and creative types! Don’t miss your chance to win up to $2000 cash, festival tickets and to have your design produced into this year’s exclusive Ecstasy. Face Facts t-shirt for the National Drugs Campaign. Visit www.australia.gov.au/drugsfor more information
Put a bird on it! If you haven’t heard of Portlandia, make sure you’re home in front of the telly at 9pm on Thursday Feb 23 to tune in to ABC2 for the Australian premiere of the hipster-skewering comedy. The hilarious sketch series features Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen and Sleater-Kinney/Wild Flag member Carrie Brownstein in a satirical look on US hipster mecca Portland and it’s ongoing “dream of the ‘90s”. Look out for cameos by Gus Van Sant, The Decemberists, Kristen Wiig, Kyle MacLachlan and countless others. Cacao!
The Australian Burlesque Festival will embark on a national tour this year, with its international and Australian headliners performing at the Judith Wright Centre on Saturday Jun 16. Keep an eye on www.australianburlesquefest.comfor line-up details and performer profiles as they’re announced.
The Queensland Art Gallery has acquired one of Yayoi Kusama’s giant Flowers That Bloom At Midnight, currently appearing as part ofthe Japanese artist’s Look Now, See Forever exhibition at GoMA (until Mar 11). Having received worldwide media attention for its Brisbane showing, Kusama’s enormously popular Obliteration Room (a white living space incrementally destroyed by patrons with sticky dots) will soon be recreated at London’s Tate Modern. Are the Brits still that envious of the Antipodes?
TIM MILFULL speaks with program director BRONWYN KIDD and one of her short film contributors, Brisbane-based animator ANDREW MARTIN, about the FLICKERFEST NATIONAL TOUR 2012.
Norway’s first female, Muslim comedian, SHABANA REHMAN, laughs in the face of danger. ZENOBIA FROST finds out how one woman is changing global comedy.
He was once known as the affable loser, but now DANIEL HENSHALL is anything but. As OLIVIA STEWART discovers when asking about his role in comedy ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN?, despite a monstrous profile boost thanks to Snowtown, the 28-year-old remains likeably modest.
The Second-Hand War
ASSASSIN’S CREED: REVELATIONS
Among the things that Ubisoft manages to do well with Assassin’s Creed, there are still some obvious issues. The swordplay is far too basic and after using the same attack, block, dodge, grab and counter combinations becomes incredibly boring and repetitive.
May The Fluff Be With You
Fat Tony Will Eat Your Frosties
STEFANIE O’DEA is an up and coming fashion designer and stylist from Brisbane who recently graduated from QUT. BRIANA WALL attended the graduate parade and just had to pick her brain about her beautiful collection.
DRINKING MAKES YOUR HEART ACHE MORE THAN IT SHOULD – Mandy Beaumont
IT’S SO EASY (AND OTHER LIES) – Duff McKagan
POWDERFINGER: FOOTPRINTS – Dino Scatena
THE ROLLING STONE YEARS – Baron Wolman
BIZOO: THE BEST, THE WORST & THE TRASH THAT NEVER MADE IT
