The One With The DVDs

FADFILE: DVD Extras

What's The Sitch?

Ever since the invention of the DVD, movies have become oh-so-much more than movies. Once you buy a DVD, you now have access to oodles of information that has absolutely nothing to do with the storyline, and everything to do with "the making of". Commentaries, interviews and virtual tours are just some of the extra's available on DVD's today.
Successful writer/director/producer Joss Wheden, and Family have taken DVD extras to a whole new level on Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog, where the commentary includes a musical commentary (titled Commentary!), as well as the standard issue commentary. Whilst Commentary! is heavily satirical of musicals, it also satirises the concept of a commentary track.

Points For:

Rather than just watching a movie at the theatre, people have a whole new reason to buy movies, thanks to DVD extras. Which in the movie makers minds is a plus.

DVD extras a whole lot of fun, they've got bloopers just for laughs, games for kids, and just by existing they extend the fun of the whole movie experience. Provided, of course that the extras/ the movie itself was enjoyable.

They can often provide useful insight into the complex world of movie making, and encourage up-and-commers by showing the job opportunities that are usually left out because of public obsession with actors.

According to producer Bill Cunningham, "DVD extra's are more like DVD essentials."
Read the full article here.

Points Against:

DVD extras return the viewer to reality, removing the illusory effect of the movie. The movie stops being about the characters and their situations, and becomes about the actors, the directors and the all messy business that goes on behind the creation scenes.

Heart Broken from Commentary! sung by Joss Whedon, is a great example of the negative feelings some artists have about exposing their work in the way that is required by DVD extras.





My Thoughts:

Personally I like DVD extras, they keep the fun going a bit longer. But then I am the kind of person who read the appendix's on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, just to 'keep the fun going a bit longer'.

The One With The Guy

FADFILE: Hugh Jackman

What's The Sitch?

Hugh Jackman is an Australian actor who has recently exploded onto screens and magazine pages everywhere as the world's latest celebrity obsession. Yet despite being a professional actor for at least the past 15 years, Hughmainia has only struck recently. Since the release of Australia (the movie) in November last year, Jackman has been receiving endless accolades for both his acting, and his muscular figure. Last year People Magazine voted Jackman "Sexiest Man Alive", and he was also asked to be the host for this year's Oscars. Due to Jackman's entertaining performance as host, the ratings for this year's Oscars rose 6%.

Points For:

First and foremost is that he's just so damn good looking, so why wouldn't we want him splashed all over our televisions?

The second is that Hugh Jackman has been working hard as a professional actor for over 15 years and given that many other Hollywood stars and starlets have received more for less, it's about bloody time he got the attention he deserves.



Points Against:

No one seems to be particularly against the current Hugh Jackman mania, although I could think of a few reasons to oppose it:

Movie makers seemed to be taking a free publicity ride on Jackman's success; yet another case of Hollywood monopolising.

More of a general opposition is that we, the general public, should have better, more constructive things to do with our lives, than fawn over some celebrity - some celebrity, that Hollywood has dictated that we should be fawning over at this particular time - rather than some other celebrity.

The Haul So Far:

Well for Hugh Jackman, things are looking up, with plenty of new movies on the horizon.

Australia scored somewhere near a whopping $200 million (USD)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Jackman's latest movie) is set to claim a equally huge amount, having scored $175 million (USD) at worldwide box offices so far.


My Thoughts:

Well I think it’s great that an Aussie actor is getting some shine time. Although, I do think that there is a point where "shine time" becomes obsessive privacy invasion. And when articles like this start appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald, it's time we all took a step back and remember 'he's just a guy'.

That said, at times all the hype just makes me think ‘yeah but he was still gorgeous 5 years ago, why has everyone collectively decided he’s hot all of a sudden???’
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sick and tired of the media controlling people’s minds. If you think an actor, or a politician, or bicycle or a tree is ‘cool’ or worthy of praise, then go ahead! Don’t just wait around for someone to tell you it's popular.

The One With The Vamp

FADFILE: Twilight

What's The Sitch?

For those of you who have zero contact with teenagers, or who have just been living under a rock for the past year, I'll give you the low down. Twilight is the first book in a relatively new series by Stephanie Meyer consisting of four books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. The books are about Bella - a teenage girl who has just moved from her mother's home in Arizona, to live with her father in the small town of Forks. At her new school she meets Edward, a member of the strangely beautiful, and somewhat antisocial, Cullen family. Edward and Bella soon fall in love, and Bella works out that Edward is, in fact, a vampire. There’s a bit of violence/conflict in each of the books involving an ‘evil’ vamp who is inevitably trying to kill Bella. However, the main focus of the series is romance. In the second book Jacob – a friend of Bella’s – is introduced as potential alternate love interest for Bella….By the end of the third book she decides she loves both guys…but she’d rather marry Edward.

The main pulling card for the books is the appeal of Edward – the gorgeous guy in school who falls desperately in love with little old ordinary Bella. And whilst Bella isn’t necessarily ordinary from an outsiders perspective, she believes she is. Which mirrors the feelings of many teenage girls.
The introduction of Jacob, as part of a Jacob – Bella – Edward love triangle is also part of the books success, Jacob adds an element of conflict that girls are MORE than happy to talk about, and encourage their friends to read about, just so they can discuss it further.

The money that has been poured into the “Twilight franchise” (yes the Author herself called it a franchise) has resulted in the first book being made into a movie, as well as merchandise including: Games, jewellery, bags, hats, posters, t-shirts, costumes, water bottle’s...and even books ABOUT the books..

For more official Twilight merchandise click here

Points For:

Well the teens love it, and whilst it may not be high literature, there's an element of "at least they're reading". Because of the hype surrounding the 'Twilight Saga', less confidant readers are more inclined to tackle the larger books in the series (the longest is 756 pages). Which, because of the simple language, gives those readers a bit more confidence in reading bigger books.


Points Against:

Because of the Vampiric theme of the books, some groups believe that twilight is promoting evil or immoral ideals. Other people believe that Edward and Bella's relationship is potentially an abusive or unhealthy one (Edward kind of stalks Bella a bit...and is fairly possessive), and twilight is demonstrating to teens that that kind of behaviour and relationship is OK.
Others just think the book is crap. Crap writing, crap plot, crap characters.

For more detailed opinions check out these blogs:

http://kimolsen.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/twilight-evil-vs-more-evil-by-eric-barger/

http://outtheotherear.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/twilight-has-raped-the-minds-of-teenage-girls-everywhere/



The Haul So Far:

The Movie was made for 37 million (USD) and so far has managed 75 million in return. That's a profit of somewhere around 38 million. Now on DVD, Australians alone bought 264,077 copies in the first week of sales (according to The West Australian) at a price of around $30, working out to 7,922,310 (AUD). That's almost 8 million (AUD) just in Australia.

...In America 3 million copies were sold just in the first day.

And that's just the movie...

As far as the books are concerned Stephanie Meyer seems to be somewhat more tight-lipped on the subject of money than JK Rowling. But, given that on the Neilsen Bookscan, the entire series is within the top 10 Best Sellers, in Australia, America, and New Zealand, I'd say neither Meyer nor her publishers are too bad off.

Then there's the infinite money flow from the ever increasing merchandise range...


My Thoughts:

Personally, I didn't mind the books. I read them once, and never thought about them again...until every one started going crazy about them. Now I just think the books are crap, they were a fun read, but now that I've thought about them for more than a second, I can see how terribly written they are. But, in truth, I don't have a problem with that.
People have just as much right to write terrible books as they do excellent books.

The issue I have with Twilight is that money, time, and effort are being spent promoting and monopolising on an inferior product. That money could be far better spent on artists who's work has something worthwhile to add to our community.

The One Because Of The Books

In keeping with the theme of book fads, I thought Harry Potter could hardly go without a mention.
But, given that these days everybody has said almost everything there is to say about Harry Potter, I thought I'd show you one of the many bi-products of the Harry Potter phenomemon.


There are of course, other interesting side effects of the Harry Potter obsession, such as parodies inluding the infamous Barry Trotter series, fan fictions (Fanfic), and conventions.


If you are interested in reading about the Harry Potter phenomena, check out these blogs:

The Daily Prophet
The Gryffindor Gazette

And this one has some interesting things to say about book fads in general:

The Five Most Obnoxious Literary Fads