TWO TRUE wins Sydney Hobart Race

A modest little boat Two True claimed the victory of the famous race this year. The way they did it would be a good screenplay material, though. Suspense, anxiety, heated arguments - all was there. Click on the picture to read the story.

OFF TOPIC

New Zealand's Weta Digital's newest baby seems to be doing fine in its opening week. It has already made its budget back and now starts earning money for the sequel.


With 4 Golden Globes nominations and 8 to 9 rumoured Academy Award nominations (Oscars) it may do quite well in the Hollywood award season.


Let me know what you thought of it ;-)

[Jan 6 update]

AVATAR BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE:

$1,098,736,685!

[Jan 7 update]

Well, the above is no longer valid... ;-)

On Wednesday night, 20th Century Fox’s Avatar became the second-highest grossing film ever at the worldwide box office. James Cameron’s 3D epic achieved the spot with $1.13 billion in just 20 days, placing behind his own Titanic ($1.84B) in the rankings and passing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07B) and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ($1.12B). That could buy a lot of unobtanium…
The feat was inevitable after Avatar flew past the billion dollar mark in 17 days and finally debuted in China on Monday to the highest opening day sales the country has ever seen (about $4.8 million). The U.S. total has climbed to $374.4 million.



[Jan 11 update]

AVATAR BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE:

$1,331,140,000



[Jan 15 update]





[Jan 18 update]

AVATAR BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE:

$1,603,067,000

And guess who won Golden Globes for Best Film and Best Director last night ;-)



[Jan 25 update]

Maybe the last time we get to see this order ;-)




[Jan 26 - Australia Day update]


It had to happen and I'm happy it happened today ;-)



[Feb 2 update]

LOL, I'm good! :-D
As I predicted Avatar landed 9 Oscar nominations:

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Music (original score)
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

Oh, and did I mention the film has earned over 2 billion now?



Original 2007 screenplay (.pdf)
(A must read for all who wanted more character development and a more complex plot. It's all here in the original script. :-) )

One more clip: the essence of performance capture - this is really what the whole ado is about ;-)

2009 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race

Boxing Day has a special meaning for all interested in sailing.

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an icon of Australia’s summer sport, ranking in popularity with other national events such as the Davis Cup tennis and the Melbourne Cup horse race.

No yearly yachting event in the world attracts such huge media coverage as this race. The race starts on Boxing Day in Sydney, NSW and finishes in Hobart, Tasmania. The course covers a distance of 628 nautical miles from Sydney Harbour to the east coast of Australia, Bass Strait, the Tasmanian east coast, Storm Bay, Derwent River and finally Battery Point in Hobart, Tasmania.

The race has been hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia since its beginning in 1945 and is run in cooperation with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

The public and media often focus a lot of attention on which yacht wins Line Honours. It's easy to understand why, because that's the first yacht to cross the finishing line. However, that is often not the Overall Winner. The exact rules to select the Overall Winner have changed over the years. Basically, it's a handicap race where a yacht's finish time is adjusted based on several factors set down in the prevailing rules. In other words, the fastest boat is often not the Overall Winner.

(http://alldownunder.com/oz-u/events/sydney-hobart-race-0.htm)

Go here to watch the start.

Click on the picture to get some first-hand news about this year's race.

Merry Christmas :-)

A quickie to start the festive season:

Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 1
Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 2
Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 3
Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 4
Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 5
Spicks and Specks Xmas Special 6

Christmas in the southern hemisphere

The heat of early summer in Australia has an impact on the way that Australians celebrate Christmas and on which northern hemisphere Christmas traditions are followed.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas houses are decorated; greetings cards sent out; carols sung; Christmas trees installed in homes, schools and public places; and children delight in anticipating a visit from Santa Claus. On Christmas Day family and friends gather to exchange gifts and enjoy special Christmas food.

Many Australians spend Christmas out of doors, going to the beach for the day, or heading to camping grounds for a longer break over the Christmas holiday period. It has become traditional for international visitors who are in Sydney at Christmas time to go to Bondi Beach where up to 40,000 people visit on Christmas Day.

Food

Christmas in Australia comes at the beginning of summer and many people no longer serve a traditional hot roast dinner. Cold turkey and ham, seafood and salads are often served instead. It has even become acceptable to serve the traditional Christmas plum pudding with cold custard, ice cream or cream. Pavlova, a meringue base topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit, and various versions of the festive ice-cream pudding have also become popular Christmas desserts.

Go here to read a detailed recipe for Pavlova.

For the lazy ones - click on the picture to watch how to make a perfect Pavlova ;-)




















Aussie Christmas songs are... ehem, somewhat atypical ;-)

Thanks to the mysterious poster who provided the following link in the comments to the previous note. Well done mate! :-) Let me know your name because your team is going to score some bonus points for finding something that mentions Holden ;-)

Jingle Bells Aussie Style


Here is a twist on a well known Christmas song - Let it Snow


And finally something I probably shouldn't post at all... ;-)

I admit - I do have a soft spot for these guys. Their humour is not very subtle but very, very Australian ;-)

Brace yourself for the Scared Weird Little Guys and their unique Christmas Day Song!
(remeber that I warned you! ;-) )

The letter "H"

Just three topic this time, because one is bound to take us a lot of time ;-)

1. Hobart (watch the beginning of the clip)




2. High Culture (you can also watch the above clip - about 22 minute mark)

and

3. Humour:
- gallows humour
- anti-authoritarian
- self-depreciating






















I LOVE this article! Have fun!

Tuesday topics - the letter "G"

This time I'm taking the back seat and simply enjoy your creativeness :-)

The main motif of this class will be GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF AUSTRALIA. As you remember we'll concentrate on four topics and each team will have up to 10 minutes to give their presentation. Three topic have been taken, which means that the Eagles are left with "Gold Rush". ;-)



BLUES: GENERAL GEOGRAPHY
(48 points)






CATS: the GREAT REEF BARRIER
(79 points)






EAGLES: GOLD RUSH
(60 points)






LIONS: the GREAT DIVIDING RANGE
(72 points)





I will soon add some links that you may find useful. If you want me to put something up on the website just let me know (email me the links / pictures / sound clips etc.)

GOOD LUCK and have fun! :-)

links:
Australian Screen
Gold Rush
Great Barrier Reef
Great Dividing Range

Several updates

Just a couple of things I promised you earlier.

1. Tasmanian Tiger - the End of Extinction

You can watch the episode by clicking the picture


















(Six videos are set in a playlist)

2. More comedy

Another clip with Tim Minchin and Andrew Denton. This time Tim sings a rather, well... secular Christmas song. As you remember Aussies are not very open about their beliefs, but this song is heartwarming nonetheless.

(click on the picture)