Dub dot dash

Nuts
There's this old Polynesian bloke out at the Otahuhu markets on a sunday morning, selling bags of peanuts. His sales pitch is a giggle... "get your peanuts here, only $4 a bag, the best peanuts in the whole wide world, get you peanuts here..." He has confidence in his product, lots of it. We got up early(ish) and got there about 9am. The markets start at 6am, go til midday, in the Workingmans Club carpark on Atkinson Ave.
Have you ever noticed that if you compliment a Kiwi on a clothing item, they'll say thanks and then tell you how cheap it was (it was a bargain, it was on sale)? Well, I'm no different. I got two beanies (one with Northside embroidered on it, cos I aint Southside), a cap, some silverbeet (99c), 5 pairs of sox and some home made chocolate chip cookies, all for $20. It's a great market, excellent range of cheap veges, fine mix of cultures, and baragains galore. Thanks to the ad on Triangle TV for the tip - gee, advertising works, who knew?

Went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night, the latest film from the pen of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Stars Jim Carrey as a man who goes to a clinic to get the memory of his former girlfriend (played by Kate Winslet) erased, then changes his mind halfway thru the procedure, while asleep. It's a brilliant play with memory, and the humour is wonderfully dark.
It's a pleasant reminder that Carrey is a good actor when he gets decent material, rather than just pulling faces and being a goofball. I always thought he was a one note actor til I saw the Truman Show and discovered otherwise. Its directed by Michel Gondry, who has a background in music videos (White Stripes, Steriogram - the knitting video), like Kaufmans previous collaborator, Spike Jonze. Speaking of which...


Six Must-see Music Documentary Films In The Film Festival (as selected by myself)
Lists are part of blogging - I don't know why, and I'm sure there's an etiquette guide on this I could probably read, but really, who would?
1. Ramones - End of the Century
2. Spike Jonze Rarities
3. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
They employed a group therapist to the tune of $40,000 to help them deal with recording their latest album. Yay for corporate rock!
4. The Mayor of Sunset Strip
"Rodney Bingenheimer has been at the influential Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM since 1976. He’s been instrumental in breaking the Sex Pistols, Blondie, Nirvana, Oasis and Coldplay and many other bands into the US market". He looks like Sonny Bono, which is funny cos he's posing with Cher in the photo in the festival brochure.
5. Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
Wellington musician/actor Bret Mckenzie (Black Seeds/Video Kid/Flight of the Conchords) appeared in Lord of The Rings for 3 seconds. Now he has LOTR fans turning up to see him perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. His character has been dubbed Figwit(short for Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!)
6. Michel Gondry Retrospective
Also, check out these documentaries - Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator, Persons of Interest (codirected by expat Alison Maclean), Kaikohe Demolition, and Supersize Me. Above selection highly subjective, don't blame me if you take these seriously and they suck. Forget the usual festival fare - if it's in English or French, it will probably come back. Go out on the edges, that's where the juicy stuff is. Like Ant Timpsons 'Incredible Cinema' selections.... The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, hell yeah!


Merlin Luck is one sharp cookie....
"Big Brother evictee Merlin's protest in support of refugees demonstrates contestants are now so media savvy they can exploit the reality TV formula, writes Clare Buttner.
It will go down as the most controversial and talked about event ever on Big Brother. Last night’s evictee, Merlin Luck, caught the show’s producers by surprise with a silent protest in support of refugees being held in detention.
His mouth sealed with gaffer tape and holding a sign saying "Free th refugees" (the "e" fell off), Merlin bravely refused to take part in the question and answer session with host Gretel Killeen, following his eviction.
"This segment is five minutes long, are you going to speak at all?" Killeen asked. The audience, disappointed they weren’t going to get the show they’d come to see, began to jeer.
But when it became apparent Merlin wasn’t backing down, despite the audience’s disapproval and Killeen’s attempts to remind him of his “obligations”, he was removed from the stage."
His former housemates reactions? One said: "What a legend." Another said: "That was the best exit ever."