Michael Paynter

Sometimes I stumble upon an artist who surprises me (Rascal Flatts is a good recent example, The Fray is another).
Well, this week I have come across Michael Paynter , a young musician from Melbourne who has just released his first single called Closer.
It's a pretty solid single and is worth a listen, the video can be viewed here on his Youtube channel.
From what I can gather he is fairly well known down in Melbourne so hopefully he might do a few shows in Sydney so I can see more.
I have listened to the three songs on the Closer single (I quite like the third track Shine On Me, don't know if it is going to be on the album).
The CD is going to be called `This Welcome Diversion', from the few songs I have heard snippets or full songs of I'd say the album will be a welcome diversion indeed.
Check him out,.

An unusual night

My standard Friday night is a quiet one watching the football and reading the racing papers preparing for the weekend.
I did some of that last night but not quit how and where I expected.
For the first time in I don't know how long I got home well after my housemate and we're talking around 2am. He was well and truly snoring by then.
I went over to Coogee to hang out with a friend and we ended up at a pub for dinner and to watch the footy. A mate of his also came along (very interesting guy but he's another story) and it was he who mae the night out of the ordinary.
Not going to go into the details but it involved a $1 bet on the football score and one of the most remarkable games of footy I've seen.
When he scanned the ticket he almost leapt out of his own skin and, potentially unfortuntely, onto my back just days after recovering from a pinched nerve.
An awesome night with a couple of guys and despite only five or so hours sleep (they kicked on a while longer than me and thank God I don't drink) I have to say it was all worth it.
Haven't had fun like that in ages.

A commuter's rant

I am normally fairly unfazed by what goes on when I travel to and from work on the train.
However, this afternoon really had me bothered. Largely it was all over people's general lack of consideration for others.
For a start there were I'd say two fewer carriages on the train than usual so we were more packed in than what you'd call normal. If there is such a thing. So there were a lot of people standing.
Over the course of 20 minutes I had someone thrust a bag in my face with no `excuse me' or apology, was bumped into several times with no recognition and people were even stealing other people's seats on the steps of the train.
It's not too hard to smile occasionally people, when someone smiles at you. We could at least make the best of a bad situation by being pleasant.
It was a pretty sad indictment on our society when we can't co operate when everyone is in the same situation.
Most of the time I don't see a lot of this because I get on the train before 7am just about every day to work and around 3pm from work. It's worse when school kids are around because they talk quite a lot and don't have any concept of how loud is inappropriate.

I don't like Mondays

That heading's not quite accurate.
I do generally like Mondays but perhaps not this one so much (but I do love the Boomtown Rats song of the same name).
I made it work fine today despte some remaining back pain and was pleased to discover it has been improving, slowly. Also in the good news column is the face that work was rather cruisy for a deadline day and things went pretty well to plan.
I headed off to physio after work and it looks as though things will be a lot better within a few days. (I currently have a heat pack on my back as I type this).
Why don't I like this Monday then? In some ways it is a touchy question. Almost literally.
I'm not going to reveal the full reason in this public arena, not that it's headline news or anything scandalous, it's just not really appropriate.
More than anything I think it is something I am going to have to learn to deal with because it is a situation that doesn't look like changing, despite the amount that I want it to.
The disappointment just takes a while to wash away.
I don't know why I think that one day things will change, if anything they seem to be heading further away from where I'd like them. The toughest thing is that I don't understand why. There's no logical reason in my mind for how it is. Sometimes I think it is a reflection on me, that's the closest I can get to working it out. Only sometimes, if I was pressed I'd have to say that statement is wrong but it is an easy conclusion to come to.
I know all this is cryptic, by the way, but it helps me to get it off my chest.
Let's be positive, tomorrow is another day full of possibilities and hopefully I can catch up with a mate whom I have been trying to lock in some time with for a while. We are slated for tomorrow so that's something to look forward to.

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

This is a hard movie to review because of the public's (and my) collective endearment of the Indiana Jones series.

In short The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is a good, entertaining movie. It does ask the viewer to buy quite a bit though. Moreso than in the previous three which were a shade more plausible.

It's been 19 years since The Last Crusade and Harrison Ford wears the hat like he never took it off, and he looked as though he still relished the role.

My memory of Karen Allen is foggy but bringing her back was an excellent move, and convenient as (surprise surprise) Shia LaBeoff's character is Indy's son.

I must admit I was a bit disappointed by this highly expected revelation. It doesn't hurt the movie largely because Shia is so likeable.

Cate Blanchett was an interesting choice for the villainess role and despite the hilarious Russian accent she was an excellent addition, as she always is.

I enjoyed the in jokes, the jokes about Indy's age and how things used to be easier. They aren't pretending to be still mid-30s. A nice nod to Sean Connery as well, a couple of times in fact.

My main issue was that of alien history on Earth. I didn't mind when it was mentioned initially as Indy dismisses it quickly saying `you've got to be kidding'. By the end I was having trouble buying what was happening, particularly as it was supposed to be 1957. I wonder whether that was Steven Spielberg or George Lucas' influence, or a combination.

Then again that kind of thing was easier to buy when I was 14 or so as I was when The Last Crusade came out. I'm giving it 7 out of 10 because I had fun, but it could have been better.

The end scene is interesting and symbolic.

Testing the nerves

Woke up yesterday fine, got out of the shower with what was later found to be a pinched nerve in the back. Man it hurt. Yesterday was rather uncomfortable.
Today is a shade better but still hurting. Hot pack about to get second application for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better again.
Rather than stay home hurting last night I went to the movies for a distraction.

Fears and a finale

What is fear holding you back from?
Facing your fears is not a theme foreign to me so it was easy to relate to the season final of One Tree Hill.
It's a simple concept yet it is one of the hardest things to do, if you don't turn and face the monster it will continue to be scary.
I've been thinking about this for a few days and, appropriately, when I sat down to watch the One Tree finale I was struck by the apparent coincidence.
Of course I think things happen for a reason, I don't place a lot of emphasis on random events as a sourse of meaning. So when I watched this it was like God telling me it's time to start dealing with what I fear.
I'm not going to go into the details but it was put to me the other day that by turning and facing your fear you put it off guard. It ceases to hold as much power as it thinks and goes onto the back foot. The monster analogy - if you allow a monster to chase you it gains energy from you being scared (the creators of Monsters Inc were onto it) but if you stop and turn around and face it, the monster doesn't know what to do.
Am I digging too deep here? Again, I don't think it is a simple exercise to just all of a sudden get over what scares you. For some it may be.
I'd encourage you to consider what scares you and take steps to get on top of it.
Back to One Tree, and after the shock of Lucas telling Peyton that he hates her (an oh my God! moment from the previous episode) we find that he's gone on a bender and ends up with a mohawk. It's quickly removed by Haley.
Nathan faces his fear that he isn't good enough to overcome his injuries and play basketball, Jamie faces a fear of the swimming pool after almost drowning mid-season, Peyton throws water balloons as therapy, Brooke faces her fear of giving up Angie......
Dan vows to be a better person by not killing off a sick priest so he can be first in line for heart transplant (a nurse even hands him a pillow in one scene) then gets hit by a car, just as his beeper rings to alert him to the avilability of a heart. Then the finale, Brooke, Peyton and Lindsey all answer their phone....Lucas calls someone and says `I've got two tickets to Vegas, you want to get married tonight?' to one of them. Now the wait until September 1 begins.
Oh, I also thought it was great the episode opened with Jamie and Gavin DeGraw singing the theme song, which hasn't been utilised all season as they ditched the opening titles.

On the streets

I was in the city this afternoon and I got to thinking about all the people seemingly living on the pavement, or at least off the pavement. Beggars and the like.
I'm sure there are very few who, like Homer hilariously did in the Simpsons, try begging as a way to supplement their income. So there obviously is a big problem out there.
What troubled me was/is how to react to someone who approaches you asking for money and even how to think about them. It's easy to think that they choose to be this way but that, I guess, isn't always the case.
There was always a policy at church that if anyone asked for money for food you don't give them any but offer to buy them something. I like this method as you really don't know what they want the $5 for. And if you buy them food or a train ticket at least you know that.
I often wondered how much difference say $2 would make.
Whenever I walk past someone of this disposition I always feel bad for either brushing them off or ignoring them even. I can't imagine how they got in their situation and how they feel. I know I would feel bad if I were ignored like that.
But I just don't know how to handle this issue. It's too big and wide a problem for me to be able to solve, naturally. Any thoughts or tips?

Me and the movies

1. One movie that made you laugh
Dumb And Dumber
2. One movie that made you cry
It's A Wonderful Life.
3. One movie you loved when you were a child
The Muppet Movie
4. One movie you've seen more than once
High Fidelity
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Hairspray
6. One movie you hated
Bean (the first Mr Bean movie)
7. One movie that scared you
Alien
8. One movie that bored you
Mission Impossible 3
9. One movie that made you happy
Horton Hears A Who
10. One movie that made you miserable
The Hours
11. One movie you weren't brave enough to see
N/A
12. One movie character you've fallen in love with
Kate Beckinsale's character Sara from the movie Serendipity.
13. The last movie you saw
Gone Baby Gone
14. The next movie you hope to see
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Thanks to Craig. Feel free to contribute your own list.

Double agent

Ambition, particularly when it comes to work, is a tricky one isn't it?
In order to move up other people have to make way for you and when the workforce is small it is even more sensitive an issue.
I am not overtly ambitious by nature but, assuming I can keep myself together, do have goals for work and they have exploded out of me in recent weeks. This has led to frustration and snappyness. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping my mouth shut today when opportunities came up to take a pot shot, largely at the person I am looking to unseat.
Before I go on, I'm not saying I am ready to take over the responsibilites of people above me just yet, but when you are clearly capable sometimes other people's shortcomings are more obvious.
When you are supposed to be an expert at something you shouldn't be asking elementary questions of people below you. Right?
For example, how could I claim to be an expert chess commentator and not know who the world champion was and what they looked like, the latest rule changes and the up and coming players. I couldn't, there's just no way you could appear credible.
That's what gets to me sometimes. I have spent the time becoming an `expert' in my field and another is trying to use my knowledge and pass it off as their own. This is going to change but I am going to have to be more careful.
Kind of like being a double agent. I have to be pleasant and co-operative (to an extent) without giving away my trade secrets (an overstatement but it's not far from the truth) readily as I did last week.
It's going to be interesting. My frustration tolerance levels are pretty low at the best of times.

Gone Baby Gone

Casey Affleck, take a bow.
Being responsible for holding a movie together and driving it is tough for even thr most experienced actor but in Gone Baby Gone Casey Affleck makes it look easy and absolutely nails it.
Affleck plays private detective Patrick Kenzie in this crime thriller from the author of Mystic River. On the surface this is a simple child abduction story but as you get deeper into it the movie becomes so much more.
Kenzie and his girlfriend Annie (Michelle Monaghan) are hired by the aunt of missing child Amanda to get to the bottom of who stole the little girl.
As they reluctantly, at first, make inquiries they become involved with the police, led by Captain Jack Doyle (the superb Morgan Freeman). As they trade information, Patrick is drawn into the case despite the fact he doesn't look old enough to get involved in such things. (There's a funny moment where he is told to go back to his Harry Potter books).
The always brilliant Ed Harris plays Detective Remy Bressant, a man who despises child abductors and the like and who reluctantly allows Patrick to be involved.
That's enough plot.
The directorial debut of Ben Affleck has a similar feel to his breakthrough flm Good Will Hunting in which Casey also featured. He probably could have had anyone play Patrick but his little brother is a revelation as the devout Catholic PI with a faith, a conscience and a soul - and all three get severely tested as the film turns in surprising directions.
I don't want to go on too much but Casey Affleck is captivating, honest, natural and engaging in his first serious leading role. It won't be his last. It's a crime that he was overlooked for an Oscar nomination, in my view he acted Amy Ryan, who was nominated for playing the child's mother Helene, off the planet.
Brilliant film, amazing performance from both Casey and Ben Affleck and deserving of a 9 out of 10.

Waiting patiently

So after what happened at work yesterday it was quite appropriate that I learn a lesson.
On and off over the last few months or so I have been reading Joyce Meyer's Battlefield Of The Mind book and generally finding it interesting.
Last night before I went to bed I picked up the book and opened it where my bookmark was. It was chapter 20 called `Don't make me wait for anything, I deserve everything immediately'. Basically it is all about impatience.
A lot of the references come from James.
The bottom line is that despite the nature of the world with wanting its instant gratification, everyone has to wait. Meyer says we need to learn to wait happily and patiently and let God make things happen on his own timetable not our own.
That's not to say we shouldn't be active in pursuing things that we want but that we must keep in mind that not everything is going to fall into our laps immediately.
I have to say it was a timely chapter for me to read.
Despite my background, having grown up in a city in a rural area, I am now well and truly assimilated into the city lifestyle. Convenience is amazing, it doesn't matter what time it is you can get anything you want at any time, and that's partly responsible for why Sydney, and large cities for that matter, are like they are.
People rush, want everything straight away and lack patience and tolerance. I admit I fall into that trap much more than I should.
Now I am aware the challenge is now to try and change. I know change is hard because habits are by nature tough to break. By the way, things at work seem to not have been affected by my lack of tact. So that's a good thing.

Gavin DeGraw

A month or two ago I was lamenting my inability to get hold of the song We Belong Together by Gavin DeGraw. Well, to my surprise I was in the music store on Saturday and spotted his new CD (which only came out on that day). When I saw the track in question listed I went straight to the counter.
I didn't care if the rest of the album was ordinary - I had to have that song. Fortunately, the rest of the CD is pretty good.
Of course I came across Gavin DeGraw through One Tree Hill, as he sings the theme song I Don't Want To Be, and I admit I got hold of his debut CD Chariot for exactly the same reason.
Some may argue with me but I think this CD is much stronger than his debut. And that's a good thing.
The opening track In Love With A Girl is very catchy as is the next track Next To Me. Others I like are Young Love, She Holds A Key and of course We Belong Together, which is just an awesome song:
The hammer may strike, me dead on the ground,a nail to my hand, a cross on this crown, but we're done if we're undone, finished if we are incomplete, as one we are everything.
It's great when music surprises you and I have to say that Gavin DeGraw fits in that category. He's not your straight up and down pop singer. His songs have imagination, depth (most of the time) and are very catchy if they are up tempo and emotive if they are slow.
You could do a lot worse than check this out.

Crossing lines

It seems that I need to keep an eye on myself at work as it has come to light that I come across as pushy or even disrespectful.
Neither of those descriptions have come exactly from above me, they are more what I understand of being told I can `rub people the wrong way'. Perhaps I do. The way I look at it is that I have a high degree of care about what I do and it appears to me that others I work with don't.
So when I am asked to pick up the slack for others who should really know how to do their own jobs within the time constraints I can get a bit testy, or short in my replies.
This is something of a flaw, I realise, though I don't think it is completely unwarranted to be frustrated by having to do your own job and cover for others.
I might have crossed a line a bit too in a post-work discussion which centred on where I wanted to head within my job. Generally I am quite tactful but when I get frustrated or riled up I can be pretty direct and I was very direct when I was getting across what I wanted for the future.
In short, I said in no uncertain terms that I want someone else's job within my department. This is not a surprise to the person in charge, who has in fact told me in the past that I would move in that direction one day.
Up until recently I was happy to sit back and just work away. Now I have decided it is time to start putting the pressure on. I'm not saying I want to be elevated into a new role tomorrow but it is good to have direction and a goal.
Now I just have to work on my diplomacy skills.

Iron Man

Superhero, or comic book adaptations, aren't always as good as you think they'll be though the likes of Spiderman, Batman and X-Men have been outstanding.
The best place I can sit Iron Man is a rung or two below those benchmarks.
I won't bore you with background - I didn't know an awful lot about Iron Man but I did know enough to know what to expect and the film, as is the norm in any genesis of a franchise, spends some time explaining the how and why.
The casting - Robert Downey Jr is quite a good choice for Tony Stark/Iron Man and Gwenyth Paltrow is fine as Pepper Potts, his assistant. Others in the cast are good though I don't think acting performances will be what people remember.
Unfortunately there has been a lot of borrowing from films like Transformers and, the earlier Robocop films. Though it probably could be argued that Robocop came from the Iron Man idea.
I think in the end Iron Man is a couple of hours of pretty good entertainment. There are some nice one liners, some good action (though not quite enough) and impressive effects.
I think in one sense it would be a great idea to leave the cinema about two minutes before the credits roll because the end is pretty ordinary. That was the first thought anyway. Now, you MUST stay through the entire credits because there is a scene at the end that makes the other ending seem a little better - but only a little.
We all know there will be a sequel.
A 7 out of 10. Good, but not in the upper echelon of the genre by a long way.