Mar
11
24 - Season 8, the last?
Filed Under Live | 3 Comments
Dammit: The clock’s about to run out for “24.”
The Wrap (a Hollywood gossip website) reports on what could be tragedy to TV viewers:
“Nothing’s official yet, but Fox has all but decided to make the current season of the Kiefer Sutherland thriller its last, according to people familiar with the network’s decision. Fox and 20th Century Fox TV have begun end-of-life conversations and a formal announcement that season eight will be the last could come as soon as this week.
First came Fox Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly’s candid admission last August that season eight might well be the show’s last.
“It’s going to come down to a business decision, Reilly told a reporter for IFmagazine.com. “It’s not an inexpensive show on the network books and we also want to finish strong. This is not a show we want to prop up. It will be a whole creative and business discussion and something we’ll have to deal with over the next few months.”
Reilly was being honest, but the fact that he didn’t just say, “Of course! It’s ‘24′! Why wouldn’t we renew it?!” indicated the network needed to see either stable or growing ratings to justify another season.
Both Reilly and Sutherland hedged when asked about the show’s fate in January, just before the show’s return. But then came the report in Variety a couple weeks ago that Fox’s feature unit had hired a writer for a “24″ feature and that Fox executives were leaning against another season.
Add in just-OK ratings for the current season, plus the aforementioned high price tag, and a renewal for “24″ suddenly became a longshot.”
I know a few people who will be very sad if this does come to pass!
Mar
11
President Zoom Zoom and the Zumettes
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The English tabloids have had a field day with President Zuma’s visit to the UK.
Labelled, President Zoom-Zoom after his reproductive and marital ability, his 20+ children have been slated as ‘Zumettes’.
Here’s some gems from the UK:
“the third (or was it the second, or the first) Mrs Zuma was squeezed into a glittering gold number”
“Zuma’s entourage of 200 waltzed through the palace snapping with their mobile phones”
“Zuma, who usually sings about machine guns, was a picture of sartorial elegance with Prince Philip as they inspected the Horse Guards”
“I’ve come to meet the British imperialists, said Zoom-Zoom”
“We were worried that Philip would summon Zoom-Zoom and asked for a ‘g&t old chap, chop chop”
And we leave the last word to -
Mar
11
Cape Town - ready for the world
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Found a wonderful site for those wanting to travel to Cape Town for the World Cup. Easy to navigate and colourful.
Try it: www.capetown.travel.com
Mar
10
Polemique - France is a-Twitter
Filed Under France, Live | Leave a Comment
The French have a word for it - Polemique. This means strife, problems, domestic upheaval.
Forget the Regional elections this weekend. Forget the fact that the Socialist Party (Sarkosy’s bitter rivals) could now claim 24 of the 24 seats on offer (they now hold 22)………
BOTH the President Sarkosy and his wife, man-tamer/eater Carla Bruni are rumoured to having an affair - and not with each other!
According to some of France’s most reputable webzines, the rumours first began on Twitter, but have since gathered a head of steam on more mainstream media sites.
Now the country is buzzing with speculation about the possibility of two dangerous liaisons at the heart of the French political system.
The news first broke when it was tweeted that the glamorous Carla Bruni - Sarkozy’s wife of a mere two years - had fallen head over heels in love with the French musician Benjamin Biolay.
Bruni’s alleged new man - Biolay.
The webzine www.suchablog.com later suggested Bruni and Biolay had built a love nest together at a flat in Paris.
But that romantic bombshell was quickly followed by another allegation of equal magnitude, after it was reported that Nicolas Sarkozy was enjoying a relationship with his dynamic ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno.
Karate champ Chantal Jouanno
Mr Sarkozy has refused to confirm or deny the cyberspace gossip about his alleged lover, who is also a karate champion.
The rumours though are now widespread, which many analysts in Paris believe gives them some credibility. However some corners are suggesting that news of Sarkozy’s affair is simply an attempt by the French president to save face.
Toby Young, in his blog for the Daily Telegraph, believes that the fling with Jouanno was dreamt up by a PR man, especially as the French president was left by his second wife for another man.
He claims: “Sarkozy the swordsman cuts a more appealing figure than Sarkozy the cuckold.”
[news source: Sky News and France 24]
Mar
10
Phantom sequel savaged by Bloggers
Filed Under Live, Marketing Consultancy, Play | Leave a Comment
The power of Social Networking seems to have struck the theatre where it does not want to be hit : careful management of the theatre ‘critics’ is no more.
For the past month, there have been previews of the eagerly awaited Phantom of the Opera sequel “Love Never Dies”. Attendees have rushed into copy on blogs and other social networks - the news is not good for Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
Are bloggers more influential than critics from the Press?
The online critics savaged everything from the performances to the set and ticket prices.
One theatre blog, West End Whingers, has even dubbed the show “Paint Never Dries”, describing it as tedious and dull, with the blogger saying he reworked the title because the show was like “watching paint dry”.
On the influential theatre discussion forum, www.whatsonstage.com, there are 84 pages of pre-first night reviews. While there are some positives in the posts, some say the show is “tired” and “lacking in surprise”.
[The Lord at the world premiere last night]
One poster, who had been to see a preview, added: “I didn’t particularly care who lived or died. I just wanted to go catch the train home.”
Lloyd Webber has hit back, telling The Times that what the internet reviewers are watching are previews and not the finished article.
He said: “It is a problem now because if you go back in history, I dread to think what anybody would have said about the first preview of Cats, or, frankly, Les Misérables, which was a huge undertaking and wasn’t right at the beginning.”
This new breed of online critics is a bit of a headache for London’s theatreland.
Even in an age of Twitter and Facebook, there is still a gentlemen’s agreement with the mainstream media that reviews will be held until after the Press night. Social media is changing that.
Love Never Dies has taken advance bookings of £9m on a production cost of £6m. Dates are pencilled in for the US, Asia and Australia.
Mar
9
Some light in the Gloom
Filed Under Live, Play | Leave a Comment
In the gloom of the snow and European winter (where is spring, he cries), you can always rely on the Northern Territory News to brighten your day.
The article states:
NT Supreme Court documents reveal Riddle was stabbed in the back while he was having -x and trying to organise a three-way orgy in November 2003.
Riddle was having intercourse with a woman in a caravan in Stuart Park, when he invited 19-year-old Terri Lee-Anne Roebuck — who was watching — to join in.
She then stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife. Riddle paused in his s-xual activity and noticed the knife sticking out of his back.
The sentencing remarks noted that Riddle, while he was trying to get the knife out of his back, “noticed … that the female with whom he’d been having intercourse had left”.
Mar
8
Snow in the Lanquedoc-Roussillon area
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It’s amazing. It’s March and even the Lanquedoc-Roussillon area in France has snow. For those of you whose geography is a little rusty, it’s nearly down on the Spanish border.
Our intrepid reporter, Jean-Pierre, snapped these pics at their house in Castelnau (near to Montpellier).
[merci bien, JP et Gxx]
Mar
8
A Caption winner!
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After you have weeded over there, I want you to water the Daffodils!!
[well done, Jenny!]
Mar
7
As we prepared ourselves for a luncheon at Le Renard, Madame announced her intuition told her that it would snow to-day (and soon!).
We wrapped up warmly and proceeded to the car - voila! la neige, the snow started.
Driving over the hilltop to Lumieres and then on to Hameau les Dauphins, there was the literal spit and a spot. During lunch, it came down.
Here’s the latest pics - Max the German Shepherd loving it, the garden, the countryside and, lastly, our house as we approached, eager to arrive home before it was too late. We passed our builder Jose on the road- big smiles, probably he was on his way to his latest ‘conquest’ and knows that the snow will mean that he has to ’stay over’ and can’t work to-morrow.
The Touran is parked on a downhill slope in Jean-Pierre’s driveway, tyres turned to 90 degrees, all bolted down. We have learnt? We’ll see to-morrow!
We are bunkered down. Thanks for a great lunch Daviiiid and Robi - sorry we had to leave so quickly.
Mar
7
Saturday in the Dentelles
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We decided we needed a little culture, a little break from the spring cleaning and hopped into the Touran along with the Duncans and headed for the Dentelles.
The Dentelles is a small mountain range which encircles part of the Rhone valley - so called as ‘dentelle‘ is French for lace. The peaks are delicate even if you can’t escape the imposing Mount Ventoux in the distance.
We travelled the scenic route and entered the area at the tiny, desolated village of Le Barreaux. Dwarfed by its XIVth Century chateau the village cries out for love, attention and many euros.
[roof top view of the old village]
We did not delay too much and headed off for the Roman town of Vaison la Romaine.
Orange and Vaison are two of the best preserved Roman towns in France. The forum is well looked after and accessible to visitors.
[part of the Roman Forum - parts of it looks like our new wood shed]
Vaison la Romaine is very popular with wealthy Parisians in the summer and the houses and shops reflect this. It has a great market in the season.
Seated at the Festival Cafe in the town square for lunch, we were presented with the programme for the 27th Vaison Regional Rally. It was very well supported and boasted over 100 participants. We tried to get to see the start at 14h30 but a combination of tartiflette pizza, rose and lack of directions conspired against us.
We did, however, see the ‘pits’ - not quite Formula 1 standard:
[snow capped Mont Ventoux in the distance]
Jean-Pierre had often told us to go and visit Beaumes de Venise - the muscat ‘capital’ of the world. We found it and what a treasure. Domaines pepper the hillsides which are crammed with vines in every nook and cranny.
We chose Domaine des Bernardins (www.domaine-des-bernardins.com) as our first stop on the outskirts of the village. In the well appointed tasting room we found displays of muscat hailing from 1839. We discovered that a domaine has to produce 12 consecutive ‘acceptable’ vintages before they can carry the appellation of ‘Beaumes de Venise’.
[1839 is a serious vintage]
[historic bottles]
[to-day's range - muscat and red]
After making a few purchases (Jean-Pierre has introduced us to the delights of foie gras and muscat), we drove into the quaint village. There are many restaurants and cafes as well as little wine shops selling muscat and local unfiltered olive oils.
[wine making and marketing is a very serious business here]
We met a lovely Scottish lady (Sarah? She had a heavy brogue) serving in one of the wine shops (she came to France a few years ago when she ‘met a Frenchman’) which meant that we were able to learn about the delights of the local muscat without straining our fractured French.
She told us that the local olive trees bear a small black fruit - suitable only for pressing in the ancient stone presses, not for eating. Needless to say, a bottle has joined the other 350 in the pantry.
[a typical local olive tree]
A great day out especially when we didn’t spot any gendarmerie on the way home. We have the name of one of the most popular local restaurants - we’ll be back!
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Blog Roll
- 2 Oceans Vibe - what the kids are reading!
- Bastide Les Amis - the ultimate property rental in France
- Crikey - what they don’t publish in Oz
- Croaky - For all the latest behind the scenes info on healthcare in Australia and beyond
- Noseweek - news you’re not supposed to know
- Times Blogs - Down The Track, the best cricket there is
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Other Links
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