Hey so guess what, as you can probably tell by the fact that I haven't made any meaningful posts here in like... a year... I lost patience with blogging. Too hard to do from my phone, too much effort to write a bunch of shit, fuck that.
But that's not to say I've become less vain or narcissistic, just more lazy. I still want to tell people all the fucken shit that I'm doing, because this is VALUABLE FUCKEN INFORMATION YO. So I signed up for Twitter. Now since almost everyone is confused by "what the fuck is Twitter anyway", I say don't even worry about it. The bottom line is it lets me send little microblog updates, but that doesn't even really matter. Because I've rigged it up so now all my Twitter updates will appear here on teammorley.com
No need to sign up for Twitter just to spy on me. Just keep coming back here, and you'll get up to the second updates on the only important person using Twitter anyway.
So that's all. Don't expect any more "blogs" on here, just tweets. Until I get bored of Twitter too. Until then, enjoy...
Hello poor long neglected blog. Just a quick note to let all you fags in Toronto that I'm performing my award winning (well sort of) improvised standup show 'What Up Fags I Gots No Material lol' TONIGHT as part of the Toronto Improv Festival. If you can't make it tonight, don't stress, I'm doing another 3 date run of the show in a dew weeks. But as each show is different and potentially hilarious, why not come then and tonight? The show is at 10pm, at the Comedy Bar on Bloor St. Tickets are $15. More info is available at www.torontoimprovfestival.ca
Ice T might claim that Souljah Boy killed hip hop, but I think we can all agree this video conclusively proves that hip hop not only lives, it's doing the hand jive, baby.
The magic is still there, even if some douchebag put a 160bpm doof doof beat underneath so they could play it at a nightclub.
That's my verdict on the American pilot of Life on Mars. The episode is very very faithful to the original, and will almost certainly draw comparisons with the first episode of the American Office which was also a virtual line-for-line remake. The only major difference is the, well, Americanization of the show. The show is about the LAPD as opposed to the Manchester Police, and so the opening in present day is a lot more like an American cop movie than the bust in the original.
It is weird to watch, I'll give you anti American Anglophile freedom haters that. I saw a leaked version of the pilot, which isn't scheduled to air on TV until October, so shit could change, but they have kept everything, from the series logo to the EXACT SAME background music. Some of the camera shots, like when Sam looks at his reflection in his car window, are identical. They also botched the scene of Sam waking up in 1972 (yeah, it's one year earlier than the UK series for some reason) with "Life on Mars" playing in the background, one of the best scenes of the original.
Annie is this version isn't nearly as likeable. In the original she's very sweet, and seems like a genuinely nice person who wants to understand and help Sam, in this one she just seems to want to fuck Sam which is a completely different character trait. I like the old Annie. There is no Chris in this episode, and the equivalent of Ray, who isn't even named, is well played, although personally I think the actor who portrayed him should have played Gene Hunt. And as for the dude playing the big man himself, not a patch, not even in the same league, as Philip Glenister. The actor, who Wikipedia is telling me is named Colm Meaney, has no charm, no charisma, and isn't even thuggish enough -- something that should have been easy. In the original watching Sam squirm as Gene beat up a witness really set the tone for the series, here they just sort of glide past it and ignore it.
Sam is ok. He plays a straight man well. If the series succeeds I suspect it will be because of him.
For some reason everyone in the department knows straight away that Sam thinks he's from the future, which removes the nice dynamic of everyone just thinking he's a bit weird, and the show doesn't even seem to leave open the possibility of Sam being dead, or really back in time. They make it pretty clear that he's just in a coma, which removes a lot of intrigue of the first series.
All that being said, it is great to see Life on Mars back on telly. Ashes to Ashes got my hopes up, but was disappointing like a dodgy second album full of ballads from a kick arse rock band. I, unlike most culturally insecure Australians and English, won't disregard the series out of hand, because if, like the Office, the series develops its own voice, characters and stories, it could work. If they just remake every episode line for line like they did this one, it won't. In fact it will probably be cancelled after three episodes. We'll see.
If I'd been in charge, I would have kept the central concept of a present day cop back in the 70's with a thuggish boss, but that's about it. Rather than LA it could have been set somewhere with a stronger identity, say Dallas or Miami, like Manchester. Because every second cop series/movie is set in LA (and every first one is set in New York), the LA setting doesn't really add anything. Also I would have changed the title. Hearing Life on Mars play over an American TV series is weird. Was Bowie even successful in the US? I'd have gone for something with a bit more cut through with an American market, Pink Floyd for example (I know they're English, but they're not as English as Bowie). I reckon Time would have been a great title track, although just about anything off Dark Side of the Moon would have been fine.
Anyway, that's my thoughts. The episode is up on bit torrent if you want to make your own judgment.
Edit -- just found an awesome side by side video clip of a pivotal scene from the two versions. Click here. There's also a review there which says pretty much the same thing as me, except he doesn't like the new Sam as much. Oh, and according to this blog they're reshooting the entire thing with a new cast except for Sam. Seems like a good idea to me.
Ok, so for a more generic update on where I am now, I'm officially back living in Toronto, Canada. My cell number is still the same as before, I'm living at College and Dufferin, and working at my old job, bartending at the Hot House Cafe.
My new place is a basement apartment, with a couch, a tv and a double bed (ladies...). I have cooked one meal for myself since moving in on the weekend, a spaghetti bolognese which ran out last night. I can walk to WalMart.
I am planning on staging What Up Fags in Toronto, whether it be as part of the Impov Festival or by itself. I'm trying to get more into the standup scene than back into the improv scene here, as I rather arrogantly feel I don't have much more (I want) to learn about improv at the moment.
I won the green card lottery several weeks ago, so within the next 18 months I should have permanent residency for the US, if I don't screw it up. I very possibly could screw it up.
I am looking forward to summer here, even if it's still as cold as winter Melbourne right now. I want to see the new Batman, Wall E, and the new X Files. I want to sit on a "patio" and drink beer. I want to go swimming and maybe even to a "cottage". I also have some other plans for summer that I don't want to talk about yet. So why would I even mention it?
I am off to work right now, to make cocktails and pretend to be friends with the weird customers who all want to have the same conversation with me over and over, while actually I wish they would shut up so I can talk to the servers at the restaurant, whom I genuinely do like. Why do you think I would want to be friends with you, creepy old man? I have not ironed my shirt, but have lied to myself that by ironing it when I get there it will look ok, when the reality is I will probably just put some more creases in it, but make it slightly warmer when I first put it on. I am so bad at ironing I have to lie to myself about it to get through the day.
I have had two serious, well not serious, important maybe, relationships in my life. One ended spectacularly in flames with the girl cheating on me, the other on such ambiguous terms and for such vague reasons that I am 50/50 on whether it was due to cheating or not. Then the other day I found out my best mate's girlfriend has just cheated on him after three and a half years. So I put this to all women out there...
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
Seriously. I am a tip top guy, even the ADELAIDE F'ING ADVERTISER agrees so, so why do I attract these women who are batshit insane? Andrew definitely, definitely did not deserve it from the girl who's just done him in. It shouldn't affect me personally, but I am really genuinely pissed off for my friend. And obviously pretty disappointed in female kind. I very seriously would swear women off permanently for some sort of hermit/forest based lifestyle, if not for two friends whose relationships seem to function outside the regular crazy bitch paradigm. So Swanny and Rob, if you guys every break up, obviously not with each other, with Liz and Amy, then it's game over, I'm going gay, because you guys give me hope.
I've quoted this from one of Tohm's old blog posts before, but I feel the need to do so again. Ｃｌｉｃｋ ｈｅｒｅ to read more of Tohm's wise words/hard to follow basketball analogies.
"growing up I never wanted to be an arsehole, thats why when I was in a relationship and at a bar/party talking to a nice girl I clicked with red flags flew up in my head 'this is how cheaters start' and literally ran away, which doesn't mean I'm right about that being how cheaters start maybe they start by grabbing the girls breasts or arse and skip the whole convo thing. The point is I ws always suspicious that deep down I was a filandering arsehole and was always on guard about doin that. Now let me first say most of the girls I know 'have their shit together' as my father would say, they've had some good relationships and some bad relationships they've learnt and grown as individuals and they are in a good one now, But as I was saying to Miyuki a ways back a lot of romantically minded girls don't have any deep seaded suspicion of themselves because the media, girly mags and everything reinforce the 'men are arseholes' thing that make heroes out of sex and the city cast for acting like irresponsible men anyway a lot of girls I've come across have expectations of 'true-love' eg. the relationship should be impervious to all outside influences and maintaining a deep attraction requires effort.
Which is wrong on every level, first off that's an impossible standard to put on any relationship because it's going to get hard at some point whether it be in 2 months (okay probably worth breaking up at that point) or three years (needs serious contemplation) or 15 years with children (at least attempt to reconcile) it's not fucking magical yet if a girl in a relationship is at a bar/party talking to an attractive man here's what I suspect they think 'Oh my god, this guys amazing, but how can I feel like this when I'm supposed to be in Love with Brad, why the only conclusion is that I don't love Brad' instead of 'this is how cheating begins' and so from my experience although addoringly innocent in it's naivete this is how nice girls with lots of self respect end up becoming cheating mcslurry's"
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