Well I was little surprised when I came across this. looks like Clint Eastwood is directing this adaptation of a book by the name of  Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World.  Matt Damon will be playing Francois Pienaar (now there’s a sentence I never thought I would type).  The book has only recently ben released but it was apparently Morgan Freeman’s idea (he plays Nelson Mandela) to take it to Clint.  So no release date but it’s already being billed as possible Oscar material.

Summary from Hitflix:

“Invictus tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match”

23 days left on this HST Gonzo book.  Although if you look around, you could probably find it cheaper.  Saw in London at a small gallery and for the next two weeks tried to convince myself that it was worth the £200 original cost.  Just couldnt do it in the end, but loved the look of it.   It also comes with a limited HST print.

Speaking of prints, I came across this website which is selling original Hunter prints and some awesome ones at that.  No prices attached but I will send off a request to them and when I know, you’ll know.

Sandy and Agar at Big Sur

Link

When is graffiti no graffiti.  When its authorised and done by the council.   Japan has this respect for superheros you just dont get anywhere else.  Can you imagine London councils painting Fat Slags over public toilets or the US spray painting XKCD sencils onto New York subway walls. Not likely.

Link (from Gizmodo)

If you cant make the Oktoberfest this year, then Wired has an interactive map that might help you to fine a more local alternative.

Or like me you might like the sound of one Umpa band, a keg of Hefferweisen and a few ladies in gossamer Lederhosen but are unable to think of anything worse than fields of unconcious antipideon teenagers lying in their own vomit, their 100 Club lanyards sinking slowly into the muddy fields.

Link

Brett Easten Ellis’ book The Informers is now an all-star cast movie.  Directed by Aussie director Gregor Jordan who did Two Hands and Ned Kelly, its apparantly a bore-fest of eighties culture-nostalga.  Intent on stripping all vestiges of relevance they have cut the whole undercurrent theme of vampires (Legion) from the movie.  Clearly a hideous mistake.  Apparantly the only reason you might go so it is for Amber Heard’s complete inability to keep her clothes on.

One review I came across summarised it as: “ flat as the Hollywood sign, with beautiful young people, all blonde, mostly naked, trying desperately to get up the energy to order something else from room service.”

While on the toilet it just occured to me that it must the first time Kim Bassinger and Mickey Rourke have been in the same movie together since 9.5 weeks.  23 years ago.  I feel old.

Official Trailor NSFW

This fleet of empty ships sits idle off the coast of Singapore waiting for the end of the recession to kick in. With Christmas orders long in and a long way down on previous years, something like 500 ships do nothing but try to fend off pirtates with scant on-board staff

“Ah Wat says: ‘We don’t understand why they are here. There are so many ships but no one seems to be on board. When we sail past them in our fishing boats we never see anyone. They are like real ghost ships and some people are scared of them. They believe they may bring a curse with them and that there may be bad spirits on the ships.’ “

And the funny thing is while these boats sit there rusting away orders made years ago for new container boats are being delivered righht now, such is the lag time in manufacture.

It reminds me of Neil Stephensons Snow Crash where hundreds off boats are all lashed together to form an interanational community off-shore. Perfect for some 20-20 matches?

Link

[care of boingboing]

The XKCD book is now out at his website store

He says:
“Hey! I’ve finally finished the first xkcd book, and it’s now available in the store! xkcd: volume 0 is published by BreadPig, a company started by reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, and all publisher profits go toward building a school in Laos. The book features selections from the first 600 comics, including various author and fan favorites. It was lovingly assembled from high-resolution original scans of the comics (the mouseover text is discreetly included), and features a lot of doodles, notes, and puzzles in the margins. I hope you like it!”

So, Ok, I maybe coming to this one a little late but this looks awesome. Out in cinema’s now.

Looks very cool.

In celebration of the new Dexter series making in onto Channel 10, we have the perfect dining chairs for that evening in with friends.

“Amy created an entire macabre dining room for the recent Met Home Showtime House event, which transformed a Gramercy Park townhouse into six Showtime shows, through the innovation of modern designers. But now the Dexter chairs, as well as bloody dinner plates and dismembered flatware from the collection, are available to the public. While television-inspired design is a new one for us to ponder, it’s one set that is guaranteed to lead to some interesting mealtime conversation.”

LInk

The final touches to my Sydney, Newtown graffiti book have finally been completed.  Check it out at Blurb.com (link is inlcuded below).

It’s so cool to have it finally completed.  It catalogues about 4 years worth of photos I’ve taken of Sydney’s graffiti neighborhoods of Newtown, Erskineville, Enmore, Camperdown.  

There approxamately 120 photos in all including the original Banksy in Enmore’s Phillip st which has now faded away; the Idiot Box by Andrew Aitken opposite the Imperial Hotel (which has now been scrubbed).  There are a bunch of early Kill Pixie pieces that I love including the first one I ever came across in Camperdown park which said “They sneak, they hide, they kill for cardigans”.  Plus the prolific pasteups and stencils of Stryder X and Glitagrrl.

Check it out and pass on the link to others you think might be interested.

For those of you keen to check out some more of the photos inside, go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noisemachine/

Newtown Graffit

Outdoor art of Syd…

By Nick Darcy-Fox

Book Preview