debritz.net - Brett Debritz, Brisbane, Australia

GoMA's pile

debritz — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:48:22 -0700

A few thoughts on the opening of Brisbane's impressive new Gallery of Modern Art last night:
* I think it was very wise of them not to lay the carpet until after the opening. Those red wine stains are impossible to remove.
* On the subject of drinks, I had to walk a long way to find one of the non-alcoholic variety.
* I got sick of hearing about how many interstate guests were there. As if we need people from elsewhere to validate what's happening in Brisbane. Let's shake off the cringe, people.
* It's great to see they gave this sign (pictured) one last outing.
PS: Yes, I know it's not meant to have carpet and, yes, the headline on this item is meaningless, but I thought it was funny.

Where's Wally? On Nine, of course

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:34:46 -0700

Is this the non-scoop of the century? I've just received a press release saying Wally Lewis will speak exclusively to Channel 9 news tonight about his mystery illness. Of course he will; he works for Channel 9. It'd be a surprise if he told all to anyone else.
Update: Wally revealed he is epileptic and, of course, he deserves our best wishes.

Time for a change

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:16:19 -0700

There ought to be a law against public clocks that don't tell the right time. There's one in Roma Street that's been stopped for years and, if I was running the show, I'd make the owners fix it or take it down. AT the very least they could remove the hands.

Premier attraction

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:08:42 -0700

I've met Queensland Premier Peter Beattie a couple of times. I'm not sure if he knows who I am or I just look like somebody he knows or thinks he should know. Whatever the truth of it, he certainly helped me impress a visiting PR person from Sydney today. We organised to meet for coffee at the new State Library and, just after we hooked up, the Premier and his deputy Anna Bligh came wandering past. Mr Beattie looked in my direction and gave me a big wave of acknowledgement. I resisted the temptation to big-note myself to the interstate guest, but I would have been impressed if I was her.

Journalism the loser on the night

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:43:23 -0700

As I said on 612ABC with Kelly Higgins-Devine (filling in for Spencer Howson) this morning, the incident at the Walkley Awards ceremony last night does the already embattled reputation of the journalistic profession no favour.

Wiggling all the way to the bank?

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:20:28 -0700

I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not, but I can't help wondering whether Sam Moran will be a "real" Wiggle now that he's officially replaced the ailing Greg Page. Will he get the same share of the takings as the other three Wiggles or will he just be an employee on the payroll? I assume Page, as a founding member, will also continue to have a stake in the huge multinational business that is The Wiggles.

Give plays a chance

debritz — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:10:54 -0700

"Go see a straight play and see how you like it." So says actor Richard Schiff from television's West Wing in trying to dissaude theatregoers from only seeing musicals. Why? Because he is starring in a play called Underneath the Lintel on London's West End. It's about Schiff plays a small-town librarian perplexed when a book that is 113 years overdue is returned. Sounds like the kind of thing I'd go and see if I was in London. But I'd see the musicals as well.

Bad sex pays

debritz — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:59:11 -0700

I'm rather impressed by young writer Iain Hollingshead, even though I haven't read his novel Twenty Something. At 25, he's been named winner of the Bad Sex in Fiction Award ("to celebrate truly cringe-worthy erotic writing"), and he actually turned up to accept the prize! When he recieved his gong from rocker Courtney Love, Hollingshead said: "I hope to win it every year."

Farewell to a comic-book hero

debritz — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:44:19 -0700

"Wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum died Sunday." So begins a remarkable Associated Press story on the death of the man who illustrated the X-Men comics in the 1970 and, apparently, co-created the characters Storm, Mystique, Nightcrawler and Colossus.

TV or not TV in 2007

debritz — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:20:10 -0700

After the departure of Tracey Spicer from Ten and Naomi Robson from Seven's Today Tonight, Crikey is calling it the "boning season" in television. Of course, officially neither of them were actually sacked - Robson made her own decision to move on and Spicer's contract expired. It makes one wonder, however, how many more departures will occur over the festive season. The rumour mill is already running hot, but I have it on good authority that one Brisbane TV program that is routinely written off around this time of the year will definitely be back in 2007.