I recently interviewed Catherine Lambert, the Australian Jazz singer and songwriter. Catherine had an important role in the movie Lost in Translation (2003) Directed by Sofia Coppola. With Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Akiko Takeshita. She also appeared in the Australian movie Peaches with Hugo Weaving.

 

She spoke about how she picked up the role in Lost in Translation

 

 Brisbane's historic Regent Cinema will be closing today for redevelopment. Yet another of Australia's magnificent cinemas lost forever. This is a real tragedy and another example of greed from developers and stupidty of policticians.

The Regent Theatre

Full story

 

 

 

 Heritage Auctions currently has a very rare Australian Daybill for the Universal Horror Film Mark of the Vampire currently up for auction.

 

It will be very interesting to see how much this sells for as posters for this title are incredible scarce.

 

I am guessing this will become the highest selling Australian poster at an auction.

 

 

The story of how the poster surfaced is interesting. It was actually listed a few months ago on eBay along with two other long daybills as a lot. The bidding reached approx $450.00 with a couple of days to go and suddenly the seller ended the auction. It seems fairly obvious that someone made him an offer outside eBay and he accepted it. The possibility is that the seller was unaware of the rarity of the poster and it is more than likely that he undersold it.

 

I know of a number of people who were well aware of the rarity of the poster and who had intended to bid on it had the ebay auction been allowed to run its course. I have no doubts that it would have achieved a very high price if the seller had just let it go to the highest bidder.

 

The poster turned up at Heritage a couple of months later and was restored and listed in the current signature auction. The information I have is that the consignor of the poster is not from Australia so I have to wonder how much he or she offered the eBay seller to end the auction. I have no doubts that many others would have quickly emailed the seller when the auction ended pointing out the potential value of the poster or making other offers so you would think that the seller might have been able to change his or her mind after the original offer was made.

 

No doubt the original owner of the poster will be disappointed in the decision that they made. I think that there is a very real possibility that the poster would have achieved very close if not more than it goes for in the Heritage auction.

 How many times have you had a conversation with someone who talks at you rather than actually engaging in a meaningful two, or three way dialogue? These people usually spend their time talking about themselves and their likes and dislikes but rarely allow any other contributions other than the cursory "yes, I know" or a nod of the head in agreement. When the time comes for the other party to attempt to contribute to the one way dialogue that is normally the cue for the monopoliser of the conversation to depart.

 

There are many who cannot hold an intelligent conversation that allows all opinions and arguments to be contirbuted. It is surprising that medical science has never been able to identify or diagnose this "condition" bearing in mind that it would be fairly easy to establish.

 

You would simply need to randomly record various conversations to verify the "condition".

 

If you conducted a simple word count of how many words were utterred by all parties in the conversation I would have no doubt that the people who suffer from "onversationitis" would score overwhelmingly high - possibly as much as a four or five to one ratio. Of course, some people are able to express themselves more succinctly than others but those who have the "onversationitis" affliction always seem to need more words to express a simple concept than others.

 

This blog may sound a little flippant or sarcastic but the fact is that the perfect conversationalist is one who allows all parties to the conversation equal time. If the conversation is one sided it becomes a "oneversation" and that is of little or no value to anyone.

Tony Abbott was elected new leader of the Liberal Party in Australia a few days ago largely based on his stand against passing the Emissions Trading Bill.

 

He has had a long career in politics and has served as a minister in the previous government but his public speaking style could certainly be improved.

 

Tony Abbott prefaces nearly every phrase with "um" or "ah". There are many examples of this  including Tony Abbott interview I stopped counting at 100 "ums" and "ahs".

 

If he is going to become a leader of any significance, he will obviously need to improve his skills as a speaker when enunciating the policies of his party.

 

My challenge to Tony Abbott is to complete one sentence without using an "um" or an "ah".

 

It wont be easy.

 

www.moviemem.com

 

 New Zealand has a proud history both in film making and in their wonderful and historic cinemas. Over the years there has been a select group of dedicated, and sometimes eccentric, theatre managers whose passion has been devoted to preserving historic cinemas that have often only been marginally profitable. It is disappointing that some of these wonderful cinemas have sadly gone by the wayside over the years to make way for modern redevelopment.

 

I have spent a great deal of time in New Zealand and have met some of the unique characters who have contributed so much to the history. Many have talked about compiling a history of New Zealand cinema.

 

Wayne Brittenden has now done that and his new book "The Celluloid Circus" is an absolutely fascinating chronicle of the history of many of the great cinemas in New Zealand and the people who manage them.

 

 

The book is packed with some superb photos that truly demonstrate how big a part cinema played in the life of New Zealanders. It also includes stories and anecdotes from some of the participants.

 

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has even just a passing interest in film or the cinema. If you are interested in purchasing a copy send me an email

 Film review broadcast on Jazz Radio 94.1fm by John Reid for All About Eve (1950) Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders. 

 

 

 

 I would like to hear from anyone who purchased a D'Arcy Doyle or Ramon Ward-Thompson painting at an Exhibition and Sale of Australian art at Jupiters Casino at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast in January 2008.

 

If you purchased any work of art at this sale please email me

 

I would also like to hear from Jennifer or Jennefer Doyle who purportedly provided the paintings for this sale.

 

d'Arcy W. Doyle was born in Ipswich in 1932 and was a self-taught painter of Australian landscapes and historical scenes.

 

From an early age he had a keen interest in drawing and wished to be a designer or to be involved in the graphic industry. 

 

He joined the Royal Australian Navy and served seven years, after which he took up full-time painting in 1961.

 

Doyle has a deep affinity with the Australian bush and his work focuses on horses, sheep, drovers and other farm activities as well as children's games.
 
Influenced by Norman Rockwell, the well-known American illustrator, Doyle gives us a nostalgic impression of post-war Brisbane and Ipswich as he recalls it.

 

Ronald Coles Investment Galleries

 

Ronald Coles Investment Gallery 1 Porters Road, Kenthurst.

 

Ron Coles' website stated:

 "Art available We feature many of Australia's greatest artists. Sir Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, Eugene von Guerard, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Hans Heysen, Albert Namatjira. We also specialise in Norman Lindsay and D'Arcy W. Doyle. With a price range from $2000 to $1,800,000 we can cater for all needs."