It’s great to see tennis extraordinaire, Roger Federer, finally take the winner’s trophy at Roland Garros (Paris) yesterday.
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/index.html
Filed under: activities, media on June 7th, 2009 | No Comments »
Seeing movies is a great way to chill and relax. Of course opinions about what’s good or bad vary enormously – as you can see when you read the two customer reviews excerpted below – discovered as I was searching for new release DVDs.
I LOL reading the first review – though I doubt the writer intended it to be humorous!
What do you think?
Review 1 (excerpts)
“This is probably the most miscast movie in the history of cinema. The plot of the movie was as thin as toilet paper which is what this DVD should have been packaged in because it is s***! I can’t give away the ending of the film because I didn’t see it. I was on hold with a suicide hotline.”
Review 2 (excerpts)
“If you want a ‘pick me up’, then this is your film. Breathtaking ocean views in the filming sequence. We bought it since we will watch it again and again.”
Makes you wonder why would we ever worry about negative feedback as it’s so subjective.
Filed under: entertainment on April 12th, 2009 | No Comments »
I am currently exploring the beautiful Sunshine Coast – just north of Brisbane, Australia.
What a great way to relax and chill out!
Friendly people, a relaxed pace of life and wonderful places to visit like Stapleton, Montville, Maleny, Mary Cairncross National Park near the famous Glass House Mountains – and of course Noosa!
Filed under: lifestyle on April 4th, 2009 | No Comments »
Not so many years ago, no record company or tour promoter could be persuaded to support mega music star Andre Rieu and his concert concept.
However Rieu held his dream – despite the nay-sayers who argued that classical music was dead!
Today it’s a totally different story. Rieu is incredibly popular. Pollstar, the organization that keeps track of the concert industry, just published their annual ranking of the top 10 worldwide concert tours for 2008. Andre Rieu comes in at 8th position.
What’s the secret to his success?
Record store owner Brian Harris, who championed Rieu years ago, believes it’s simple.
“He makes people happy. The media is full of negative stories of doom and gloom. When you watch an Andre Rieu performance you get wonderful music but you also see people being genuinely happy.”
“There’s very little pretentiousness in his shows…people who go to them are not classical music fans. Indeed, the classical music fraternity doesn’t like the guy. But he has added colour and vitality to classical music.”
Andre Rieu has scheduled 35 concerts throughout the USA and Canada in 2009. Other locations include: Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Read more about Andre Rieu’s concert tour here
Filed under: media, music on January 10th, 2009 | No Comments »
Are you planning a holiday in Europe or the Caribbean?
Many people enjoy traveling overseas. One of the biggest tasks, of course, is finding good quality, value for money places to stay – to suit a range of budgets – from modest to luxury.
If you like to stay in a relaxed atmosphere that has the feel of visiting friends in their own home, then visit a travel site that specializes in holiday accommodation in Europe and the Caribbean.
Rentvillas are continuously on the look-out for new places to add to their database of holiday rental properties.
Here is an attractive villa currently available on beautiful Lake Como in Italy.
What I particularly like about Rentvillas are the photos of the properties as well as a handy description of the facilities and surrounding attractions for each property.
Information includes:
You can set up an account and browse the site at your leisure. You can browse by region within different countries (e.g. Lake Como or Florence in Italy). It’s easy to keep track of your favorite properties in a personalized folder on their site.
Rentvillas.com has properties throughout Italy as well as France, Spain, England, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, and the Caribbean.
For more information visit Rentvillas here
Filed under: travel on December 24th, 2008 | No Comments »
We are hearing a lot about the romantic epic movie, “Australia”, directed by Sydney film-maker Baz Luhrmann. Its Australian debut is scheduled for Tues November 18 and stars lead actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
60 Minutes runs story
Last night (Nov 16), 60 Minutes (Australia) included a story on the mega-budget movie ($160 million) with an interview with lead actor Hugh Jackman and some previews of the movie production set in WWII (Darwin, Australia).
Reporter, Charles Wooly, described it as “an Australian outback epic, with the star of the film, without doubt, the Australian landscape itself.”
“It’s a classic Hollywood epic of the the kind that doesn’t get made any more – a classic love story writ very large,” says Wooly.
“There’s never been anything of this scope or size that has been made about Australia,” says actor Hugh Jackman.
“Australia’ – in the style of past grand romantic dramas?
Comparisons are being drawn with epic romantic-dramatic movies like, Gone With the Wind (1939) which was set in the American South in and around the time of the Civil War. GWTW starred Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, and Olivia de Havilland. It told a story of the Civil War and its aftermath from a white Southern viewpoint. The movie received ten Academy Awards, a record that stood for twenty years.
The epic-romantic movie, Out of Africa (1985) depicted a snapshot of African colonial life in Kenya (British East Africa) in the last decades of the British Empire. It was narrated from the lyrical, poetic viewpoint of the lead character, Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke who made Kenya her home for 17 years. The movie starred Robert Redford, Merryl Streep (as Karen von Blixen-Finecke), and Klaus Maria Brandauer in the lead roles. It received 28 film awards including 7 Academy Awards.
Oprah Endorses “Australia”
It must be nice to have one of the biggest media personalities, Oprah Winfrey, give a rave review of your work. Apparently Oprah has dedicated a entire show to promoting the movie, including interviews with the lead actors, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The show will be aired prior to the US release date for the movie, Nov 26.
“It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a long, long, long, long time,” Winfrey said. “It is epic, it is magic, it is a spectacle and the scenery is so gorgeous you can barely stand it. Australia is going to make you jump on a plane and go Down Under.”
You can see the 60 Minutes segment with previews of the production process here.
Filed under: entertainment on November 17th, 2008 | No Comments »
Home Beautiful’s annual Product of the Year Awards celebrate innovative design in all its forms.
Emerging and established individual designers are up against global brands in the search for the best products released in Australia over the past 12 months.
Click here to see the winners this year
Filed under: lifestyle on November 16th, 2008 | No Comments »
The grand final for the Aussie version of ‘Dancing with the Stars” is on tonight.
In a world first – show organizers have allowed three couples to be in the final. Apparently their combined judges and viewers scores were so close – that this seemed a clever way to add a bit of a twist for the grand final.
The evening will have a mini dance-off – with the final two couples dancing their feet off for the trophy!
I’d include a link to some of the dance videos – but the advertisements are a real nuisance.
So instead, here’s a link to a page where you can download some of the popular dance steps for Tango, Salsa, modern Waltz, Jive and more.
I also found the myspace page for the brilliant musical director for Dancing With the Stars – Chong Lim. He has a music resume conceived in heaven! See Chong Lim’s myspace page here
Filed under: activities, entertainment on November 9th, 2008 | No Comments »
The annual Melbourne Cup horse racing carnival held the first Tuesday in November in Melbourne (Australia) has something to please most people.
This includes:
Horse racing news and tips – style and fashion awards – merchandise – memorabilia and history.
Melbourne Cup Day is an unofficial holiday in the nation! I doubt there is a single office in the country that doesn’t run a “sweep” for the major racing event of the day – run at 3pm (AEST).
And of course there are the thousands of ‘Cup luncheons’.
All in all – a whole lotta fun!
Here are the details:
Race 7
Tues Nov 4th
Time 3pm AEST
Prize money $5,650,000
Race name Emirates Melbourne Cup
Distance 3200m
The favorite horse is Mad Rush (USA) Weight 53.5kg Barrier 4
Trainer Luca Cumani and Jockey D. Oliver
Filed under: activities, entertainment, media on November 3rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »
When the Middle Harbour foreshore area – on Sydney’s lower North Shore – was made part of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Heritage Trust after the Navy moved to Jervis Bay, the area was designated for ‘public use’.
This meant many improvements were planned and commenced – such as harbour park lands and extensive walkways with magnificent views sweeping across Sydney Harbour to the Eastern suburbs – right through to the Heads.
Along with the improvements, was the transformation of the WW1 Army Hospital into artist studios that are rented by 18 different artists. The artists work there full-time.
Today a friend and I did the panoramic Middle Harbour foreshore walk. We stopped along the way and visited three studios – which are exhibiting as part of the current Mosman Festival.
We spoke to artist Chantal Mahoney about her work and her inspiration. I always enjoy these kinds of conversations!
Chantal works in oils and changes her subject matter regularly. She is just finishing her “clown” period – with many subjects from circus characters. Prior to that she has worked with a “dance” theme – the Spanish Flamenco dance.
Here’s a sample of her work.
You can see more of her work here
Filed under: activities on October 31st, 2008 | No Comments »
