Jebediah @ The Rev

Patrick Music

Jebediah Front Man, Kevin MitchellSo I just got back from a brilliant performance by Jebediah at The Rev in Brisbane. Tonight was the 10th Anniversary Tour of the band sometimes referred to as Jebs. I remember their first CD (Slightly Odway) when I was back in high school and it was totally impressive to see this band still full of the same energy that is apparent in everyone of their albums. The Rev’s intimate size made for perfect place to host this band’s crazy grunge rock for the night, allowing for maximum exposure to the complete Jebs experience.

I turned up to the event a little bit late after grabbing something to eat after training, so I missed the first support act, Red Jezebel, who a couple of people I spoke to tonight said were pretty good. I arrived just in time to catch the second act, Neon, who also managed to shake The Rev with their classic rock riffs and tunes.

The Jebs came on about 11pm and kick-started the crowd with one of their more upbeat songs. The energy the band put into their performance was amplified and returned by the crowd, evident by the mass of arms waving and the large number of fans jumping around. Their song selection was fantastic covering most of their albums, a few B-sides and even a couple of covers songs that were lapped up by the frenzied crowd. The encore topped it all off with a couple of The Jebs’ probably most well known songs, Harpoon and Leaving Home. Although I think everyone was disappointed that the night didn’t continue past its 12:40am finish time, I think Jebediah probably made the right decision as the crowd was starting to get a little angry with excessive moshing and crowd surfing.

The Disney/Miyazaki Rort

Patrick Movies

When I read on Slashdot that Howl’s Moving Castle was being released in the USA and how well it is doing, I rushed to find out when it was going to be here in Australia (more specifically Brisbane).

Although it’s going to premiere at the 52nd Sydney Film Festival, the rest of us Aussies won’t be able to get a glance of the film until September! With broadband becoming cheaper and more accessible, and making movies that much more accessible, when will media companies raise the bar and actually compete for the consumer dollar?

So frustrating!

Lior @ The Zoo

Patrick Music

LiorTonight (or rather last night) Sydney based songwriter and artist, Lior came to perform at The Zoo. After I got back from my big three weeks abroad I was looking for gigs to attend. I hadn’t heard of Lior before but after reading a few reviews and listening to a couple of his songs from his site, I thought I’d hunt down his album. There were a few places online that seemed to have it, but a stop in at the local JB Hi-Fi seemed to do the trick. The sales person who was serving me said she really liked his stuff and it was a good album. She mentioned that she’d also just missed his last concert but managed to hang around outside enough to say that he was a good performer as well.

LiorTonight I can attest that his performance is really worthwhile actually visiting. Lior performed a few new songs and the ones that he played off his Autumn Flow album were superbly improvised and varied, making it just an amazing show to see. It was made even better considering that tickets were only $16.10! Tonight was such an amazing crowd as well, with the tickets for tonight’s gig completely sold out! So good that I think I’m going to go see him perform down on the Gold Coast as well.

Splendiferous Splendour

Patrick Music

Last year’s Splendour in the Grass was amazing. This year’s one includes acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Moby, Interpol, The Finn Brothers, The Living End, Shihad, and Sarah Blasko. Despite tickets for this year only going on sale yesterday, it appears that they have already sold out! Such disappointment! It’s also amazing to see that people are already ebaying them for almost double the price!

Sarah Blasko @ The Rev

Patrick Music

Sarah BlaskoWith nothing to do this Friday, I somehow managed to nab myself a ticket to see Sarah Blasko at The Rev in the Valley and it was an amazing show. This artist is becoming ever more popular with looks somewhere between a miniature cross of (at least I think so when you see her live) Natalie Imbruglia and Sophie Ellis Bextor but definitely with a style distinctly her own. She has more recently been compared to the likes of Missy Higgins and although her voice and talent could easily be mistaken for Missy at times, Sarah’s own unique style of music contains an enchanting and almost haunting undertone. She was also one of the latest representatives for Australia at the South by Southwest Festival in the US.

Sarah Blask At The RevThe Rev made a perfect spot for this gig, with the intimate surroundings giving Sarah great opportunity to interact with the crowd. It seemed she was genuinely impressed by the Brisbvegas audience based on her comments and the way she responded to everyone’s reactions. What a bargain to see this Indie/Folk US signed artist perform for the measly sum of AU$15! (Especially considering she will be gracing one of the stages at Splendour in the Grass later this year). Fantastic night that went a little later than I expected but well worth staying up for!

House of Flying Daggers

Patrick Movies

Yesterday I managed to get along to see the House Of Flying Daggers before it stopped showing at the cinemas. I had seen the preview and it definitely looked like one of those movies you have to see on the big screen. Made more in the style of the movie, Hero, and starring one of the actresses (Ziyi Zhang) from both that movie and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this movie focuses less on the martial arts action and definitely more on the storyline and cinematography.

Let me warn you now, there is no mistake that this movie is based on a love-story with most of the conflict really there to build each character before a stunningly predictable finale, so be sure to indulge in the fighting scenes you do see. Admittedly the storyline succeeds with what it tries to do and manages to throw in a number of twists which I did not see coming (but I tend to be pretty naive in these things).

Cinematically this movie exceeds in being visually stunning, with each scene filled with backgrounds and costumes indulgently rich in both detail and colour. At times I felt like some of the scenes were only there to provide yet another opportunity at showcasing more detail, but they were all entertaining nevertheless.

The House of Flying Daggers is one movie you have to see, but make sure it’s at least once in the cinemas.

In Transit

Patrick Entertainment

Invite to transitA few of us managed to make it to an event tonight that hadn’t been really heavily advertised. I had stumbled across a poster on a bus stop on my way home from work and was captivated by the mystery of an event touting the latest in Asian Art, Music and Film. Sponsored and promoted by Tiger Beer, the website Discover Tiger Beer had plenty of opportunity for people to apply for an invite to Brisbane’s “Transit” event.

Strangely enough (or maybe not so), the invite to “Transit” said to be at Platform 3 at Roma Street Station (a major Brisbane train station) at 7:30pm. Those of us who attended could not form any preconceptions because of the lack of detail on the invite – Were they really going to close a platform? Were we going to catch a train somewhere? Or would the event actually be held on a train?

I think we were all positively blown away by the evening that ensued. Transit was literally held on Platform 3 @ Roma Street Station, with the number of walls constructed turning the area into an art gallery. Live house music pumped throughout the night, accompanied by clips of modern Asian films and a combination of live performance and static art pieces. Free (Tiger) Beer, Wine and Water, as well as freshly cooked Asian dishes served in those little boxes you see mainly on American TV were also readily available through the entire night.

The crowd was a strange mix of different groups of Brisbanites, some dressing up (in suits), with others dressing down (t-short and shorts), but all with the consistent theme of being there to have a good time. Overall it was a very entertaining event for a Thursday night and was a definitely good way of breaking up the week with something different.

Reviewing the weeks just gone

Patrick General, Movies, Work Related

The last two weeks have just flown by with so much happening that I really haven’t had a chance to update the blog. Last week we were fortunate enough to have Martin Fowler (known best for his collection of books such as Refactoring, UML Distilled, and Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture) down under participating in a number of conference/seminar events. Since I work for the same company he works in, we were even more fortunate when he found space in his busy schedule to spend time with us at a client site on one of our projects. I definitely took advantage of the numerous opportunities to dine and chat with the man, enjoying the time we spent discussing a wide variety of topics.

I also returned to Aikido for the first time since my accident, training with caution so that I avoided aggravating my leg. Upon entering the dojo, I was reminded of its great community spirit when everyone showed their concern by asking where I’d been for the last month. Last week also marked the last day of employment for another mate, Aaron (AKA DJ Anarchy) at my old workplace, which, of course, demanded some sort of celebration late into Thursday night/Friday morning.

Last Friday then saw to the start of my employer’s first “Team Hug” events for 2005. My company creates these conference-like events so that everyone in the country can share their experiences and knowledge with each other. For us working in Brisbane, it is also one of the rare occasions where we actually get to meet all of our fellow employees down south in person. Saturday is reserved for the internal conference (which I’m told tends to be much better in content and format than most other conferences) whilst Sunday is seen as the chance to relax, and get to know everyone else in a much more social atmosphere. This Team Hug was held at the Australia Noosa Lakes Resort and was a perfect location to do work related stuff without feeling like it was work related stuff. It was also my first time to present at one of these events, and despite the nerves, felt like it was well-received. Thanks to Andy for pairing with me on the entire presentation.

This week I was invited (thanks Michael and Sarah) to a pre-release screening of the movie, Ong Bak. Although it’s not going to win any academy awards, as far as action and martial arts films go, this is definitely one to go and see. I never released some of the things that you could pull off with Muay Thai kickboxing and the star of this movie manages to demonstrate them all. Although the storyline is not going to make you think very hard, the fairly decent length (for an action movie)is filled with enough humour, drama and lots and lots of action to keep you entertained throughout.