Mark Priestley

It's been a few days since the apparent suicide of actor Mark Priestley and I have to admit it has been on my mind now and then.
I can't work out why he would have done it.
On the surface he had so much going for him - he was good looking, talented, on a successful TV show, he had a bright future - so, why?
It has developed that he suffered quite badly from depression. My question is how much help did he seek, what could lead him to think there was no hope?
I don't know the degree of what he was going through, though seemingly he was able to function enough to perform his job on All Saints. I guess you never can really know.
A couple of years ago I had my own battle with depression. It saps your energy, focuses your mind on yourself, drains you of the enjoyment of things, everything is really hard work.
When I think back on that time I wonder how I got through. Things got fairly dark at times for sure. Perhaps for Mark he was in the middle of one of those times and made a snap decision. That's just pure speculation of course but makes some sense to me.
I know it is easy to say here, but you should never lose hope. And thankfully for me, and everyone out there should they choose, God offers hope.
Anti-depressants are effective but they can also mess with you. I can say, as I am currently beginning a staggered reduction in mine, that while they take the edge off they have a very bad side effect that can be frustrating.
Simply, you can't release any emotion. You can laugh, but a lot of the time you can't cry. It's hard to release the things that are eating away at you. I really don't like that side of it and it is part of the reason why I am attempting to come off them (albeit slowly). The other part is because I am feeling great and don't really need them.
I think the best thing to do when a dark patch hits is to sleep on it.
I believe that nothing is as bad in the morning as it seemed.

Tropic Thunder

As far as comedies go, Tropic Thunder has to be up there with the best in recent times.
It's not intelligent comedy like in a British film but it's still a riot as Ben Stiller takes the mickey out of war films (and several other types) in a much needed return to form.
Stiller is action hero actor Tugg Speedman who has been cast in a film about the Vietnam war along with several other noted actors of his time. Jack Black is his usual crude self as Jeff Portnoy and Robert Downey Jr is outstanding as the multiple Oscar winning Australian Kirk Lazarus (who tends to remind you of Russell Crowe now and then).
Cameos abound here and none better than from Tom Cruise, much to my surprise, as film magnate Les Grossman. He's hard to describe and you kind of have to see it to believe it. He really has made a good move doing this film.
Others include Matthew McConaughey, Tobey Maguire, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mickey Rooney and, hilariously, Lance Bass.
The laughs start before the opening scene when we see the four main leads in advertisements for their products or films and it's a great intro because it gets you in the mood to laugh.
This ain't rocket science, it's a shade crude at times and a little offensive depending on your sensitivity but it's just good fun.
There's no deep and meaningfuls here and Ben Stiller does his best work since probably Zoolander even if his character does remind you of that character.
A very funny 8 out of 10, better than your average silly comedy.

Bland Games come to an end

I'm one of those people who loves the Olympics.
For a couple of weeks you become deeply interested in sports you pay absolutely no attention to for four years. I love watching the cycling, both road and track, the diving, the rowing, swimming, selected track and field events and beach volleyball.
I was also engrossed in the Australia vs Japan softball match that went into five extra innings.
Perhaps it is a patriotic thing, though I don't go around draped in the Aussie flag, but the Olympics is almost compulsory viewing.
This is something that our broadcaster, channel 7, is probably counting on. Their telecast was woeful at very best. Too many delayed events portrayed as live, too many cutting between the event and the studio as if to justify the host's job.
I got really sick of the Stephanie Rice/Eamon Sullivan `are they really broken up' thing. Didn't particularly care before the Games and don't care now.
As for his comment about his private life not being private anymore, that's the price you pay when you excel at anything in the year 2008 (particularly in sport if you are an Aussie) - and if he was so concerned about his private life he shouldn't have stripped to his underwear for that advertising campaign.
The one thing I regret about the Games happened last night.
I started watching the men's 10m platform final and when Matthew Mitcham went so-so in his first dive I decided to go to bed. I get up this morning and he's won the gold and broke the Olympic record for a dive score.
Damn. I found the coverage of his win in the news very interesting given his life circumstances. Regardless it was an amazing effort and I'm sorry I missed it.
So the blandest Games of my memory, and certainly the most staged, is over and the Olympic movement can go back to normal in 2012. There won't be lip-synching nine year olds, fake fireworks and tanks patrolling the streets.
It didn't help that channel 7 contributed to the feeling that it was very stale and controlled.
China did better than I think most people thought they would but they still managed to suck the spirit out of a celebration of freedom and sport, at least from an outsider's point of view.

Make Me Lose Control

While watching some episodes of Dexter tonight (man I love this show!) I came across a classic from the 80's.
It's Eric Carmen's Make Me Lose Control .
Come on, admit you know the words....
`turn the radio up for that sweet sound, hold me close never let me go, keep this feeling alive, make me lose control...'
I'm way past being embarrassed by my taste in music, TV and movies. I like what I like. Whether it's cool, daggy or retro there's something about it I liked. We're all shaped by our past and the things we experienced growing up.
Make Me Lose Control came out in 1989, I was 14. That was 19 years ago and I still know the words.

90210 - will it be any good?

Either this is a great idea or Hollywood has run well and truly out of ideas.
Bringing back Beverly Hills 90210 is a risk simply because the original was such a success and ran for 10 years (despite the quality dropping off about three quarters of the way through).
So judge for yourself, will the new 90210 be any good?
As a massive fan of the original when I was younger I have a high bar set or this one, but I will take a look and see what happens. Having a couple of originals in there does raise the curiosity level.

Season 6 teaser

Just days away from the Season 6 premiere of One Tree Hill.
Since I was so rapt with the fifth season and the new direction the hopes are high that this season, likely the final season, will be a cracker.
I may be a fan (and a big fan) but some of the other shows of this genre out there should take a look at One Tree Hill and why it made it to six years when others (like The O.C., which was good) faded out sooner.

Top of the Pops

Since I am rather disheartened with music at the moment here are the songs I keep coming back to over and over. They won't be everyone's cup of tea but they are the ones I love.

1. I'll Be There For You-The Rembrandts
2. Hero-Mariah Carey
3. Crash And Burn-Savage Garden
4. Walk On-U2
5. If You Could Only See-Tonic
6. Everything-Lifehouse
7. Not Myself-John Mayer
8. Spending My Time-Roxette
9. I Want To Know What Love Is-Foreigner
10. What About Me?-Moving Pictures
11. Name-Goo Goo Dolls
12. The Greatest Love Of All-Whitney Houston
13. You Belong To The City-Glenn Frey
14. Just Between You And Me-Lou Gramm
15. That's What Friends Are For-Dionne Warwick
16. Close My Eyes-Mariah Carey
17. Crazy For You-Madonna
18. Losing My Religion-R.E.M.
19. Lift-Shannon Noll
20. We Belong Together-Mariah Carey

That's the top 20, there are a stack of others I like (I've done a top 50). But I think they also tell their own story, or something of mine anyway.

The Savages

We go to the movies to escape from reality, largely, but what happens when reality in the movies is so real.

This is the case with The Savages a film for those who don't need special effects and a fantasy setting to enjoy a movie.

What you get in this film is a reality check, a frank look at how dementia affects a family and they've cast two of the finest dramatic actors around in Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney.

They play brother and sister Jon and Wendy Savage, whose estranged father has been diagnosed with dementia following the death of his partner.

With nowhere else to go Jon and Wendy must take care of their dad Lenny, played brilliantly by Philip Bosco, and confront their feelings about their past.

The Savages is definitely not a comedy but it is not all grim.

Wendy is in the midst of a midlife crisis, she's single but dating a married man and has temp work while she writes plays based on her childhood.

Jon is a professor and an academic and is much more settled, though also unmarried. He's dating a Polish woman whose visa has expired.

They are both going through the same thing in different ways yet Jon seems to handle it better. Lenny doesn't really know who they are, so it seems, though there is one scene where his kids are arguing and he turns down his hearing aid. It said to me that Lenny was more aware than he came across.

I thought this is was a brilliant film though I do feel the need to see a silly comedy and have a big laugh. I'm a sucker for Linney and Hoffman, who I think are among the best actors right now, but they were outstanding.

Not everyone's cup of tea but it is a very real and very moving story. An 8.5 out of 10.

It's Not About the Bike, part 2

When you're right into a book it's amazing how quickly you get through it.
Having finished Lance Armstrong's account of his `journey back to life' after cancer I have to say it was overall an inspiring story.
Sure there were some quite difficult sections but the bottom line is where there's life there is hope. He goes as far as to say that cancer is meant to improve us as people.
Hmmm.
`We have unrealised capacities that sometimes only emerge in crisis', he writes.
I think that is definitely true both in theory and based on some of my own experience with illness (though not cancer, admittedly).
I'd totally recommend reading this book if you haven't already. It is a great shake up and a great lesson about the importance of life and fighting for it when it is challenged.
It's a hard battle at times, the book, but Armstrong includes a lot of the details for our benefit and not to freak us out (though it probably will).

It's Not About the Bike, part 1

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Lance Armstrong's account of his battle with cancer and I couldn't wait to finish it before writing about it.
The book, It's Not About the Bike, came out a number of years ago and I reckon I've had it for at least eight years and hadn't read it until now.
I'm sure everyone knows Armstrong's background as a champion cyclist before his diagnosis of testicular cancer. And his feats after recovery, including winning the gruelling Tour de France, have also been well documented.
But I wasn't aware at all of what he went through.
The book is riveting, an amazing story of courage, but it is also highly disturbing and unsettling. Reading his record of how he fell ill and was subsequently diagnosed with stage 3 cancer (the worst kind) it is hard not to get emotionally involved yourself.
It's very fortunate that he had a strong upbringing from his mother and had plenty of fight in him because just reading about the tests, surgeries and the chemotherapy was very hard work.
(I realise actually having to go through them is much, much harder work in fact something I don't think I can fathom so don't think I am making light of it).
I remember thinking that there was no way I could be strong enough emotionally, let alone physically, to get through the chemo but his attitude was unbelievable.
I guess that when you are faced with the choice between fighting or dying you fight and fight as hard as you can.
I'm not yet finished the book but I do think I have passed the hard part - I hope at least. Reading something like this raises your awareness of such things and, while this is probably more information that you need to know, I have made much more of a habit of checking myself out regularly. I'd encourage the guys out there to do the same.

In with the new

This is a very trivial yet significant moment - today I bought a new wallet!
I don't know how other guys see their wallets, and I didn't think I had any particular attachment to mine, but it was a big deal cleaning out the old one and filling up the new.
I reckon I bought the old wallet, a surf-style Ripcurl wallet, at least 10 years ago and maybe more. I'd hung onto it while it deteriorated to the point where there were holes in it but today I jut felt it was time.
I was amazed at how much crap I had jammed into that thing. Now I have a slightly more stylish wallet, a shade less juvenile but only a shade.

Bert at the News Desk

One of the funniest things I've seen on TV for a while, it's Bert at the News Desk from Rove last Sunday night.
If you're familiar with the show they have a section called Carrie at the News Desk, an irreverent and comedic look at the week's news. Carrie was sick this week and Bert Newton filld in. Watching him makes you realise just how he has lasted so long in the industry and wonder why he doesn't do comedy a lot these days.
His get well to Carrie is hilarious and the crematorium joke is a cracker too. Enjoy!

Taken

I was determined to see Taken knowing nothing about it but a review in yesterday's paper caught my eye so I read it.
A one star review is hardly a recommendation so I went into the film (at a preview screening) expecting a stinker.
So I am happy to report I was pleasantly surprised. Taken is a pretty simple `daughter gets kidnapped, father vows to rescue her' film.
Liam Neeson is Bryan Miller, a retired `Government agent' trained to `stop bad things happening'. He reluctantly allows his daughter Kim to go on holidays in Europe with her friend.
While checking up on her via a phone call Kim's friend is abducted and Kim is soon taken also leading Neeson to utter the most hilarious threat seen in film in years.
He vows down the phone to Kim's kidnapper that he would find him and kill him. I did well not to burst out laughing.
So Bryan goes all over Paris trying to track Kim down and I must admit there is some excellent action here. Some great gunfights, a car chase as Bryan ruthlessly works his way to the man at the end of the phone.
There are much better films out there than this one, and there are some massive holes and missing parts to the story, but it's not bad and certainly not the dud I had anticipated.
I still can't see Liam Neeson as an action hero and that's a major flaw.
I'm going to give it 6 out of 10. Wouldn't say rush out and see it but you could do worse as a DVD one night at home.

The view from here

If I am being literal it is a brown curtain, just to get that out of the way.
When I look in the mirror sometimes I catch my eyes and I wonder what they tell other people.
You know, `the eyes are the window to the soul' so what do others see in my eyes?
It makes me think about things that I hide. Fears, emotions, thoughts that shouldn't be there, hopes, dreams.
Most people know what I fear above everything else but is it better to keep things to yourself or to get them out in the open?
It is easier to just say nothing personal and I know several people who do that and seem to be able to get by. Usually if I let things build up without letting them out I run into trouble. Physical trouble aside I tend to get very snappy and usually say something insensitive and/or stupid.
I've been asked a few times lately what is happening on the girl front. Thankfully it isn't just the married friends who are doing it.
My standard answer is nothing or that it is not a priority but the truth is I'm not sure I could handle such a relationship. I know how that sounds.
On the other hand it could be the best thing that has happened to me. I won't know until I give it a try.
Then there are the times that I wonder what I have to offer. Not material things, not even physical things though I am hardly an athlete. Maybe I don't like myself enough?
So I don't often look myself in the eyes. Maybe I should do that more until I work out who is looking back at me.

Wanted

Pure enjoyment, escapism, implausible action.
That's the best way to describe Wanted , the latest film adaptation of a graphic novel.
Helped a lot by a very likable cast (and not helped by some massive holes in the script) Wanted is one of the better leave your brain at the door action flicks going around.
They definitely got the casting right. Morgan Freeman is Sloan, the leader of a group of ancient assassins; Angelina Jolie is Fox who is seemingly the 2IC and James McAvoy is Wesley who is the latest in a line of assassins except he doesn't know it.
Wesley lives a very menial life. He's an account executive whose boss is constantly on his back, his best friend is `sleeping' with his girlfriend and he's on anxiety medication. Sounds like the perfect guy to be an assassin. Lucky for him it's in the blood. He is recruited after his father is killed to hunt down the man responsible.
Like I said there is a lot of implausible action but it is heaps entertaining, there are a few laughs but I have to say it is McAvoy who makes this film. He is very likable, does a pretty decent American accent to the point you forget he isn't American and that aids the film a lot.
There are better movies out there but if you want escapism this is more than adequate. I can't remember the last time I heard Morgan Freeman swear, by the way.
Giving it a 7 out of 10, pretty much the standard `I really enjoyed it' score.