“He looks like Santa’s Little Helper… except black”

That’s the line I have always used when anyone asked what my dog Cooper looked like. You see, he’s half border collie, half whippet and no one could imagine what he looked like. Basically he’s like a short haired border collie with a long nose and long legs that can run like buggery. So the best bits of both.

Anyway, he passed away on the weekend at my Mum and Dad’s place where he lives. Not much to say except it was quite sudden and saddening. He was about 13, and I reckon 12.5 years of that were spent running chasing a ball. He was named after Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks for no real other reason except I was (and still am) obsessed with Twin Peaks and Cooper sounded like a cool name and all the family agreed.

So here is a picture of him for those of you still wondering what a half border collie, half whippet could possibly look like. Keep chasing that ball Coop.

…muttler

Poster Booty of the last few weeks

I haven’t had too many posters arrive on the door step in the recent month or two. The odd Jay Ryan and Leia Bell is about it.

Two awesome posters in the past month are these two for my favourite folk-comedy duo… yep Flight of the Conchords. The first is by the great artist Tyler Stout. It actually glows in the dark and shows two very creepy skeletons of Jermaine and Brett. Is only one of 50 so was very happy to grab that. The other is by EyeNoise and makes me smile each time I look at it.

Jay Ryan has put up a heap of things recently, but not for many bands I dig. Lots of art prints as well which are a bit of a change of style for him. The main two I have picked up are for Jeff Tweedy and Modest Mouse. The MM one is particularly interesting… full bleed (ie image goes all the way to the edges of the paper).

And last but most certainly not least is my favourite, Leia Bell. It has been mainly art prints for her, one of which was a 2nd Edition of the image which adorns my wall in full original painted glory. It is an image I love of which I have the painting, art print, and also the Mates of State gig poster. Awesomeness.

… muttler

Melbourne International Film Festival

MIFF is here again for another Melbourne winter. Over the years I have gone from seeing 20 films, to a dozen, to a handful. Last year I saw about 5 and it was the quietest year since I began going. This year I only have 2 on the cards. Not sure why… there is always enough too see. Maybe it is just getting to be a bit too much and too expensive.

And this year to be honest there wasn’t too much that grabbed my attention. Yep, there is some good horror in there (more on that soon), but outside of that, I reckon it is a bit slim. Even the Music Doco section is a staple, but this year there is not much in there. So what am I actually going to?

Well, the thing that MIFF has done that has gotten me all excited is bring out George A Romero for his new one Diary of the Dead, as well as a retrospective. Sure, Land of the Dead is not great. But the 1-2-3 of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead can’t be beaten. So I am off to see some of those (having never seen Dawn on the big screen I am pretty excited). But the main bit of gold is the Q&A with the man himself. You better get that on that one quick though as I can’t imagine tickets are left.

The only other thing on my agenda is the new doco on Hunter S Thompson. The man is amazing, and this seems to be the most “official” doco we will get so should be very cool.

Outside of that there is not too much I don’t think. If I wasn’t up to much, sure I could see a few movies each night, but must see’s? There they are above for ya.

… muttler

Zombie Strippers

Well, since it is Zombie season, why not briefly mention Zombie Strippers? Why not you ask? Well, because it is terrible. Not good terrible. Just terrible terrible.

I know, you are saying what do you expect? The title is Zombie Strippers for crying out loud. Yes, it had everything… dodgy humour, gore, strippers… but it is just truly awful. I love a good cheeseball horror flick. The 80’s was a gold mine, and even lately I have gotten perverse enjoyment out of things like Plane Dead (ie Zombies on a Plane), but this was so shockingly awful, I can’t believe Robert Englund was in it. Not that he has any credibility. That’s my point.

Re-reading the above I realise I have probably just made it sound great. But it isn’t.

… muttler

The Dark Knight

I can’t add anything else to the hyperbole. Yes, it is that good. And yeah, it is too long, but when you completely redefine what a “comic book” movie can be, who cares?

… muttler

Angelique is back (kinda)

Angelique Houtkamp has returned to Melbourne! Well kinda. Her work has, if not the lady herself (bummer).

Outre has a mini-ish exhibition of new work by Angelique up now called Til Death Do Us Part. The opening was last Thursday night and was well attended for a mid-week opening (as opposed to the usual Friday night shindig).

If you are unfamiliar with Angelique’s work, pop in and have a look. These pieces are mostly smallish in nature, but check out the limited prints up for grabs… great stuff.

It is only on until July 23 so get in there and have a look.

… muttler