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The Best Of 2010 List


The 2010 List


(in no order)


Top Albums


The National – High Violet
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Beach House – Teen Dream
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
The Seabellies – Limbo Lake
Deerhunter – Halycon Digest
Besnard Lakes - Are the Roaring Night




(Runners-up - Band of Horses, The New Pornographers, James, Paul Weller and two fists up for Brandon Cox aka Atlas Sound for releasing four full albums online for free ).



Best Films

Mostly it was a year of tracking down past films I hadn't seen. (Caught a lot of Bergman, which made everything else seem a little facile). Yet, there are always a few gems. Here goes...

North Face
True thrilling story of rock climbers in prewar Germany.





The Ghost Writer
Underrated Polanksi drama with a threatening undercurrent.

The Social Network
Greed is Good. Fincher does it again.

The Killer Inside Me.
A film this bold should not be overlooked.





Shutter Island
Not one of Scorsese's best nor the most original but still enjoyable.

Inception
Spectacle with intelligence. Who would have thought?





Fish Tank
Brilliant verite style film about being stuck in the English class system.
Makes Mike Leigh seem passé.

Terribly Happy
Creepy but amusing Czech film about a cop with post traumatic stress.






(unseen as yet but purported to be very good - Winters Bone, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Black Swan & Lebanon - of course, mostly released at the end of the year to be fresh in voters minds come Oscar time).




Most over-rated Film

Alice in Wonderland
Yawn. Apart from Ed Wood, Tim Burton has been making the same film over and over again since Beetlejuice.


Worst
(Apart from the ludicrous amount of remakes like Saw 174 - STOP!)

After.Life.
Terrible in every regard. Not even Christina Ricci's boobies could save it.
And it makes no sense. Liam Neeson, why?




Best Australian Film

Beneath Hill 60
Claustrophobic, World War I underground drama.
With the budget of The Pacific's one afternoon coffee break.


(runner-up)
Tomorrow When the War Began
What we all feared – the film that could never live up to the book. But it tried.






Most over-rated
Animal Kingdom
Good but style over substance.


Worst
Bran Nue Dae
Bryng Moi A Buket.
(Granted, aside from Grease, I'm not into musicals. This was bad, but still not as bad as Glee. Now there's an oxymoron).



Best Novel

Freedom
Jonathen Franzen
Yes it is that good. His intelligence is beyond compare.
Insightful, witty and he makes it looks easy.


Best TV Series

(This is nearly pointless as Australia is usually behind the U.S. with many shows, but unfortunately not Glee, so for what it's worth.)

Kings
Cancelled after it's first season. What a shame.

Dexter
I keep waiting for the quality and ideas to fall but it keeps surprising.

Doctor Who
I miss David Tennant but the new Doc is refreshing.
So is the lovely Amy Pond.

The Killing
Okay, it officially came out in Denmark in 2008 but it was only released on DVD this year. Brilliant.


Most Disappointing

The Pacific
A couple of good episodes, but pretty dull compared to Band of Brothers.
Too many pointless battle scenes with no characters to care about.
More script development please!

Caprica
After Battlestar Galactica, how could they get it so wrong?


Anything you'd care to add?

My Books


TillyCam Cruise Babe - Part 3 - City Streets

At Christmas Time it's important to remember this (slightly adapted) famous quote. All we are Saying... ... is Give A Peace of Cake a Chance. TillyCam Part 3 of 7 - City Streets


(Deleted thanks to YouTube music Policy) 


 My daughter Tilly. TillyCam - in the vein of Warhol's Campbell Soup series... The same theme with different locations. The music track is called 'The Rolling Stones' by Australian group Cloud Control. (I in no way own any copyright of the music. I reference the band in the hope that you check them out). Cloud Control 

 Thank you so very much for all your support during 2010. Trying to find creative time whilst juggling family and work is hard, so it's nice to get feedback to know that it's all not in vain. 

Writers do want to read afterall.

Back in 2011 with the rest of the TillyCam Series plus more Stories, Poems, Videos etc.. 





 Until Then,

TillyCam - Cruise Baby - Part 2 of 7 - Suburbs


(Deleted thanks to YouTube music Policy) 


 My daughter Tilly. In the vein of Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans. (Featuring the music of Australian artist Adrian Deutsch with 'Home'. I in no way created the music, the copyright is not owned by me. I reference the Artist and hope you check him out.) Coming Soon, TillyCam - Part 3





 

TillyCam - Cruise Baby - Part 1 of 7 - Home

In the vein of Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Series.. the first of 7 short videos.. The themes will be the same with a different location each time. It will make more sense as the series goes on.. To be viewed collectively..
Clearly it's a little bit of craziness but with a dash of creativity too.


(Deleted thanks to YouTube music Policy) 


The music track is called Jona Vark by Australian Band, Gypsy & the Cat. (I do not own the copyright to the music. I reference the band in the hope that you will check them out. I have edited the track. The full song sounds different. The background soundscape is my own).

Next Post,
TillyCam Part 2


Hollywood's Great Loss - Both of Them






At the close of November, 2010, within hours of each other, Sci-Fi popular culture lost two of its great contributors; Leslie Nielsen and Irvin Kershner.

Nielson for the 1956 classic, Forbidden Planet and Kershner for directing The Empire Strikes Back. Both films are regarded as being in the Top Ten best Sci-Fi's films ever made, if not the Top Five.

Nielson played dashing Commander John J. Adams in the smart, sassy Forbidden Planet, a big-budget MGM extravaganza based loosely on Shakespeare's, The Tempest. It was the forerunner for Lost in Space and Star Trek and its influence hit Star Wars 20 years later. It still resonates today. It was the first film to use an all electronic score and gives the film its weird ambiance. No other film sounds like it. The special effects were top notch and its concepts cerebral, probably considered too smart for a remake.





He said, Forbidden Planet was ...'Supposedly a science fiction version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, it was all about the id, or something like that. Who knows? I just had to wear a tight uniform and make eyes at Anne Francis. I was pretty thin back then.'
Despite his flippancy, the film gave Nielson his career, even though he is most remembered for his 80's and 90's comedy's. Yet he had already left his imprint in Hollywood lore as a 29 year old in this landmark film.


Forbidden Planet Music Video (A 5 minute version - Spoiler Alert)








Irvin Kershner was regarded as a actor's director, precisely why Lucas hired him. When he asked Lucas why he didn't prefer a younger hot-shot director Lucas replied, '... because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you're not Hollywood.'




In a recent interview celebrating Empire's 30th anniversary, Kershner said, 'I got to do all of the things that I wanted and had the freedom to go in my own way.' Thank the Force for that.
'I told George I was going to concentrate on the characters.'
'I wanted to make Empire a little darker (than Star Wars) and more truthful...'
He certainly did that, and gave the series it's best entry.
Lucas has been doing his best to unravel that legacy ever since.

(To see my review on Empire, click here).

Kershner went on to direct Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again and the sequel to Robocop and spent six years trying to get his own project up, but he never really returned to the smaller character pieces leading up to Empire, such as Eyes of Laura Mars and Loving and The Flim-Flam Man.
Despite Empire's lasting success he said ..'Here we are, talking about Empire, and it's 30 years later!' When asked if he had a career favorite, he replied....'I am still not sure I can single Empire out above everything else.'



Both men lived until their 80's and well and truly left their mark. And you can't ask for much more than that.


Coming Soon,
more Poetry and Stories...

Until Then,