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

 

 

 

 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

 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."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I recently recorded an extended interview with Ray Barrett, star of many Australian films including Don's Party and Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. He also starred in the very popular TV series Emergency Ward 10 which was a huge hit in England in the 60s. He is currently appearing in the Baz Luhrmann epic Australia.

 

Ray also provided many of the voices for the TV series Thunderbirds which is still screened throughout the world today. I asked Ray about his experiences on Thunderbirds and have loaded the first in a series of interviews with him on to You Tube.

 

 

I have always tended to think that the correct way to pronounce Louis Armstong's Christian name is "Loo-is" but I know that many others swear that it should be "Lou-ee". In one of my recent Saturday afternoon Jazz programmes on 94.1fm I asked listeners to phone in with their thoughts on how Satchmo's Christian name should be pronounced.

 

On the day, the overwhelming consensus of calls insisted on "Lou-is" but I did have a long conversation the following day with another listener who swore that it should be "Lou-ee".  The funny thing is that some listeners get quite annoyed when Louis Armstrong's Christian name is not pronounced the way they prefer.

 

I always thought that the film Hello Dolly was a pretty good indication of how his name should be pronounced. He opens with the line "Hello Dolly, this is Lou-is Dolly" etc etc.

 

Another indicator comes from the man who is apparently Louis Armstrongs grandson. In a recent article Herb Armstong says "I remember everyone liked my grandfather. That's Louis (pronounced Lew-is) not Lou-ey. He liked to be called Louis (Lew-is)."

 

However if you have a look at Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that cannot always be relied on, they suggest that the correct pronunciation should be "Lou-ee".

 

What do you think? If anyone has any thoughts on this please let me know. Feel free to add a post to this blog.

 

Regards

John

 

 Sept 27 2007