The week that was #29

This week's post covers a tv show about cricket, a musical comedy gig, a recent Stephen King novel about time travel, and one of the best films of the year.

Howzat! Kerry Packer's War

[For the non-Australians/Australians who don't know the story, this was a tv mini-series about a man named Kerry Packer, who was an Australian businessman whose primary interest was in broadcasting and publishing; in the late seventies he wanted the television rights for cricket and was refused. He found out many of the players were dissatisfied with the poor wages they were paid (relative to the money the organisations were making) and together they attempted to stage their own cricket competition. As you can imagine, it was not well-received by the very traditional cricket boards around the world, and it went to the courts.]

I started watching cricket in the early 80s, by which time all the events covered in the mini-series had taken place, so most of what I knew about the formation of World Series Cricket came from some televised interviews with Ian Chappell – mostly that the players were extremely poorly treated by the cricket boards, who were making large amounts of money but refusing to play the players what they were worth.

That's pretty much it, though – so I learned quite a lot from this, as well as having more than a few laughs.

I had no idea where Kerry Packer came into it, other than from the broadcasting side; I didn't realise he had as much to do with it as he did. I also didn't realise that legendary commentator Richie Benaud was on the 'rebel' side – I just assumed he was part of the establishment – and nor did I realise how big a part his fellow commentator South African-turned-English player Tony Greig had in it either.

The first episode was great but the second was only good, mostly because the really interesting events were covered in the first; really, it could have been condensed into one slightly longer episode without losing any of the important details. But it worked out well for Channel 9, since it did (apparently) did very well in the ratings.

One of the things they showed less of was the involvement of Don Bradman in fighting against the changes; I was a little surprised they didn't go into more detail, but I guess there was a decision to make over whether or not to show that one of Australia's sporting heroes had flaws¹.

¹Incidentally, my father is not a fan of Don Bradman as a person, though I've never been quite sure why. But my father has irrational dislikes for a large number of people, so there may not necessarily be a reason.

Bill Bailey

Got along to see Bill Bailey – musical comedian and actor (most notably playing Manny in Black Books, but also appearing in Hot Fuzz, the last Doctor Who Christmas Special, and voicing the whale in the film version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) this week; he's one of my favourite performers, and I always try to get along to his gigs if I'm able – and this is the third time I've seen him.

He was his usual brilliant, eccentric self, making lots of observations: about accents; about texting and lolspeak; about politicians – both in the UK and here – and the ghastliness of people turned into celebrities by reality television programs. Oh, and how much he hates Downton Abbey, the theme song for which he turned – as he tends to – into a quirky mashup; on this occasion it was Dub Reggae².

But this was, as far as I can tell, the most enjoyable of his shows that I've seen, mostly because he went quite a ways off-book as a result of some bizarre audience interaction, i.e. people yelling out things specific to Australia, and then trying to hear the explanations. But, as all the best comics do, he ran with it, and we got a whole lot of hilarious stuff that we probably wouldn't have otherwise got.

All in all, a great night out. I hope it's not too long before he's back.

²Previous examples include The Hokey Pokey in the style of German Electronica, and the theme to Doctor Who as Belgian Jazz, with lyrics. In French.

11/22/63

A recent novel by a man who was once my favourite author (it changed when I broadened my interests to beyond genre fiction) but who still remains amongst my favourite authors, Stephen King, 11/22/63 – if the date isn't a giveaway – is about the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.

However, given it is a Stephen King, you know it's not as simple as that; it's about a man who lives in the present day who is shown a 'doorway' that allows him to travel through time back to 1958, and who decides to use this opportunity to establish that it was, in fact, Lee Harvey Oswald who did the shooting and, if it turns out to be true, stop him and alter the course of history.

It's unlike any other King story I've read – and I've read most of them. Probably the closest I can think of is The Shawshank Redemption, since it's about a noble-minded man trying to deal with an almost impossible situation. It was (from what I can tell, given my limited knowledge of US history) astonishingly well researched, particularly the parts about Oswald's life and family.

There are the usual King elements, though; great tension, humour, interesting characters, the occasional terrifying moment, and an amazing insight into the American identity. And while the time-travel aspect is essential, it's not over-used, which tends to be one of the things that annoys me when it's used as device.

It's a change in direction for King, but one I like.

Moonrise Kingdom

I'll come straight out and say it: I loved this, Wes Anderson's latest film. Every single minute of it.

Given that one of my all-time favourite films is his 2001 effort, The Royal Tenenbaums, I'm not all that surprised that I liked it; that I liked it as much as I did, however, wasn't something I expected.

It's the story of Sam and Suzy, both 12, who run away together; he from his scout troupe (led by Edward Norton) and her from family of three younger brothers and parents (played by Anderson regular Bill Murray and Frances McDormand ). Using his scouting skills they set off to follow a Native American trail and be together, and the adults – once they discover they're missing – set out to find them.

It's a fairly simple premise, but in the hands of someone like Wes Anderson (and co-screenwriter Roman Coppola³) it becomes an absolute masterpiece; an engaging, laugh-out-loud funny, sweet, sophisticated, poignant and (let's not forget it) entertaining film. And I want to stress that last part; while I enjoy films that aren't necessarily plot-drive, I'm aware that not everyone does, so I want to make sure it's clear there's a solid plot at the heart of this film.

Triple J's 'movie guy' Mark Fennell said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he enjoyed the fact the characters in Moonrise Kingdom, unlike some of his other films, are much more sympathetic and likeable – and I definitely agree; while (as I said earlier) I loved The Royal Tenenbaums, the characters really weren't all that likeable, while those in MK are.

A friend on Facebook described it as 'total hipster candy', and I think that's a great description; it's very much aimed at hipsters, as was the film version of Where the Wild Things Are – but, where it fell short, Moonrise Kingdom has succeeded. And succeeded up the wazoo, since I can't wait to see it again. I think the urge I had to finally buy a Blu-ray player after being blown away by The Avengers so much that I want to actually own a home version of it is getting stronger.

³Yes, of the Coppola film-making family; Francis Ford is his father, Sofia is his sister, and both Nicolas Cage and frequent Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman are his cousins.