Foreign Correspondents explore Finland

http://formin.finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?nodeid=40298&contentlan=2&culture=en-US

Check out what I did last month

SA poker player unlucky number 13

A 34-year-old shipping executive from Durban SA, Konstantinos Mamaliadis, came 13th in the World Series of Poker's main event this week. He picked up just over $478 000 for his place at the tournament played by thousands of people.

The only other South African poker player to make the final table of “The Big One” is Raymond Rahme, who did it in 2007, finishing third.

Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic is the chip leader. He stands to win nearly $9m. Players pay $10 000 to take part in the event.

The final table of nine players will finish the tournament in November this year.

Kylie Minogue Aphrodite - Princess becomes Queen in Sun City

Roll my chariot

Long-time fans of Australia’s pop superstar, Kylie Minogue, would have been wowed by her slick performances this weekend at the Sun City Superbowl. She played nearly all of her hits and wore extravagant costumes designed by Dolce and Gabbana. A slightly weaker voice from over-use, or just too long a tour, was supported by two excellent backup singers. The audience was also transfixed by spectacular dancers and a stage with people swimming under water on it.

Minogue, who is 43-years-old, launched her singing career in 1987, releasing her first album, Kylie, in 1988. Her latest tour was for her 11th album, Aphrodite. In her 24-year career, she had not set foot on a South African stage until last weekend.

I do not want to call time on her career, but chances are slim that she will visit our stages again, at least not in the next few years. This is why it was pleasing to hear strong renditions of her songs covering pop trends in the 1980s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s.

Highlights of her Saturday show included Better The Devil You Know, Love At First Sight, Confide In Me and In My Arms.

Of course, there were plenty of tracks from Aphrodite, including all of the singles released off of the album so far, Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love), Better Than Today, Get Outta My Way and All The Lovers, which she closed with. They all worked very well live.

She really likes her audience. During her acoustic, If You Don’t Love Me, she paused for a while, looking overwhelmed by the energy of her performance on the night. The thinness of her voice did hinder her on this song though. She may have been slightly tired. SA’s shows are the last of her 77-show worldwide tour. Nevertheless, the golden circle crowd, especially moved to the vibe of the show, even if the seated folks could have jived a bit more.

Miss Minogue also asked the crowd for a request. She said she heard a call for it and sang her cover of Little Eva’s The Loco-Motion, while wearing hot-pants. Yes, her bum still looks decent, for all those who wanted to know. She also covered the Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart), which showed off a decent, slightly waning voice.

Some people will have been turned off by having to travel to Sun City from different parts of Gauteng and other provinces to see her and by ticket prices ranging from around R450 to just under R1800, adding to that cost.

Concert ticket prices pay for all sorts of aspects of as performance, with artists normally receiving about 10-15% of the takings, British studies have shown. In Kylie’s case, much of the takings would have gone to her superstar costume, set designers and dance troupe.

Her dancers, who have become a famous part of her live shows over the last decade, were mostly men scantily dressed in Ancient Greek-inspired outfits, for this tour. She credited them, her band and also two brilliant back-up singers, who often out-sang her, and who, I assume in their twenties, could move onto solo careers too.

Alistair Anderson

I want to live in a world where Dudikoff is king

It's been nine years since the brilliant Michael Dudikoff last starred in a film. He is 56-years-old now so maybe he did not want to tarnish his powerful action career because he was over the hill. Perhaps, he realised the 80s action movies craze was over. I think he was having too many nightmares about Steven Seagal.

He has worked very diligently for an actor. This may be because he starred in so many B movies, which, I assume, did not pay very well. B movies are not often available in South Africa . This may be because they are too expensive to import, in light of the small likelihood of any one paying to watch them. Nevertheless, etV tends to show many B-movies.

Dudikoff's most memorable film series is the American Ninja series. It was kind of funny. He played Private Joe Armstrong and managed to churn out five American Ninja films. The first sequel American Ninja 2: The Confrontation amazingly featured South African actress and Cherel de Villiers from South African soapie, Isidingo: The Need; Michelle Botes. That film was released in 1987. To my knowledge, not many local actresses have been in cheesy martial arts movies, except for Candice Hillebrand, who was in the live action Tekken movie, but who is not as established an actress.

Dudikoff also mentors other actors and participates in martial arts. He practises Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I believe he could "take 70-year-old Chuck Norris to the hospital".

Wikipedia says Dudikoff is married and has two kids. He also owns a Golden Retriever.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel for the millions AND MILLIONS of Dudikoff fans around the world. I was very excited when I found this on the Internet:

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=18711

In August last year, it was announced that Dudikoff was teaming up with another former action star, Wesley Snipes and, some actor called Joey Lawrence.

In recent news for Lawrence (April 29), the New York Daily News reported that Lawrence is supporting Donald Trump's bid for the White Office. By the way, Trump is not buying it. Instead, Trump wants to run for president of the US.

Here's the article and a link:

" Donald Trump may be losing friends by the minute, but he has at least one Hollywood star on his side - Joey Lawrence from the 1990s sitcom "Blossom."

The actor, who is best known for his role as Blossom's dimwitted brother on the '90s sitcom, told Fox News that he was behind the birther king.

"I'd be open to Donald. He's somebody out of the box and I think that some of the stuff he's saying makes sense," he said Tuesday. "It sounds like you and I would say it and it's time. I'm tired of 'so politically correct' every step of the way. "

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-29/gossip/29501158_1_birther-donald-trump-big-role

Are there any other "has been" acting legends you would like to see return to our screens?

Alistair Anderson

DVD Review - Tangled

Rating: 8/10 - Excellent

This is the best Disney film in years. It is not on the same level as Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast but it is still a very good family film.



Director: Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. Screenplay: Dan Fogelman. Based on Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm Producers: Roy Conli, John Lasseter and Glen Keane. Editor: Tim Mertens. Music: Songs by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Glenn Slater. Score: Alan Menken. Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios. Starring: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy and Ron Perlman (all voices). Age Restriction: PG. Running Time: 100 Minutes.

The film plays with the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Rapunzel. Mandy Moore plays a more wild Rapunzel than the trapped and bored character many people may have become accustomed to as children. Rapunzel was abducted as a baby by the witch, Mother Gothel, voiced by Donna Murphy. She was trapped in a tower and closed away from the world.

She has spent her young life within the tower with Mother Gothel and a tiny, silent chameleon called Pascal But, Mother Gothel should have realised that eventually Rapunzel would become too inquisitive about the possibility of their being a world beyond the tower. full of curiosity about the outside world. One day while Mother Gothel is away, Rapunzel is surprised by a visitor who has found her. He is the bandit, Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary Levi). He is on the run from his former robber friends, the Stabbington Brothers, one of whom is voiced by the brilliant Ron Perlman. It turns out that she has something he wants and he has something she wants. Adventure ensues.

The film may be CG-animated but it does not feel that far away from Disney's 2-D movies of the 1990s. As long as a movie looks interesting, it does not matter what dimensions it is delivered to viewers in.

The songs are not that good but they work suitably well. Murphy's solo piece is in line with Aladdin's Whole New World in terms of quality.

The main characters work well together most the time. Flynn and Rapunzel show some chemistry but they are not Aladdin and Jasmine. Nevertheless, it would be harsh to compare Tangled with one of the finest films of all time, Aladdin. I enjoyed the villains more. Perlman and Murphy are very entertaining. Disney has a good track record of villains with the likes of Shere Khan in the Jungle Book and Scar in The Lion King. Tangled's ending disappoints, however. It kills a fair bit of the creativity in the film.

Verdict:

If you want to watch a Disney movie that is not over-the-top in terms of its action scenes and ideas and that is not held back by Miley Cyrus' gut-wrenching it's cool to be young but act grown-up numbers, Tangled is a good start.

Alistair Anderson

Tangled is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Twitter is taking over

This post was made for the IE Corporate Communicator Challenge. Prospective MA in Journalism at IE students were encouraged to: "Expose a case of disruptive innovation within the industry of journalism and the essential factors that made it a triumph".

In line with Harvard Business academic, Clayton Christensen's definition of "disruptive innovation", Twitter became a service that took root at the bottom of the media market, and then relentlessly moved up market, eventually replacing letters as a tool of communication to the masses, for example. It has not yet replaced television or newspapers but it may in the future. Digital book sales have overtaken print book sales already. Means of media consumption are changing quickly. Twitter is as major gamechanger in this evolution.

Some may argue that Twitter started as a way of social communication between a person and their friends or acquaintances.
It was, in a sense, a competitor to Facebook. It was a simpler Facebook because it allowed people to express how they feel or tell the world where they were and why. This was communicated in a concise manner.

People did not then need to scrawl a person's Facebook page. But one cannot understate the ability of Twitter as a tool to voice opinion. People can unleash their opinionson the "Twitterverse". There, other people can expose themselves to these opinions. If you are famous, you will probably gain more exposure, or, at least, gain it more quickly than the non-famous do.

The media quickly realised that it could use Twitter to spread itself throughout the globe. They could improve brand awareness on an incredible scale. They could gain new customers too. Newspapers and television media outlets could use Twitter to get into peoples' heads. People did need to agree to follow these companies but if enough people tweeted about corporate ideas and news, the companies would "trend" as newsworthy subjects. Twitter was used for finding information for stories and stories themselves.

If it is trending on Twitter, it is worth looking at for a news agency. These topics help to fund profitable stories in terms of news reach . More money can be made as a result of more people subscribing to paid online conetent because they liked a link on Twitter. Even if the contentwas free, they could be exposed to advertisements, which would make money for the site displaying them.

Journalists also develop their profiles by using Twitter. They are essentially standing on gigantic soapboxes. Their voices have been boosted. However, much of Twitter may not be trusted because the checks are not there. How much can one regulate a soapbox?

Alistair Anderson South Africa

Brad Chasing Oscar

Terrence Malick's The tree of life won the Palm d'Or yesterday. Brad Pitt was commended for his performance. Will it win him an Oscar or will one of his other films coming out this year?

An official synopsis was later released at the 2010 American Film Market:

We trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, Jack, one of three brothers. At first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the world’s way of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth.

From this story is that of adult Jack, a lost soul in a modern world, seeking to discover amid the changing scenes of time that which does not change: the eternal scheme of which we are a part. When he sees all that has gone into our world’s preparation, each thing appears a miracle—precious, incomparable. Jack, with his new understanding, is able to forgive his father and take his first steps on the path of life.

The story ends in hope, acknowledging the beauty and joy in all things, in the everyday and above all in the family—our first school—the only place that most of us learn the truth about the world and ourselves, or discover life’s single most important lesson, of unselfish love.

Pitt's first nomination for an Academy Award was for his supporting role in 1995's Twelve Monkeys. He then garnered a second nomination for his leading role in 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For much of his career in the 1990s, he was seen as a bad boy and perhaps limited actor. Yet, he is starring in films that are at least interesting critics and I would not be surprised if he did not win an Academy Award within the next five years.

Pitt is set to star as Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in the drama Moneyball out this year. This coming-of-age story smells like an Oscar. Next year, he will feature in Cogan's Trade as Jackie Cogan, a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game. Then, in 2014, he will play Max Brooks.

"Ten years after the human victory over the world wide Zombie epidemic, referred to as World War Z, Max Brooks scours the world collecting the stories and experiences of those who have survived the conflict that almost eradicated humanity," the imdb.com synopsis on the film reads.

Alistair Anderson