Crikey cinema buff Luke Buckmaster makes the decision of what to see/what not to see tonight at the movies pretty clear-cut. It’s a sad day for musical fans.
January, 2010
Why the Massachusetts Democrats are Browned off
Comparing the shock results of yesterday’s Massachusetts election with the votes received by Obama and McCain in the 2008 Presidential election tells an interesting little story.
The ABC of independent news
The ABC’s recently announced 24/7 news channel is bad news for SKY, but good news for Australia: we can only rely on non-commercial media to provide genuinely independent news coverage.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: mutters in a Civic restaurant
Rudd gossip being overheard in Civic restaurants and which metropolitan television newsroom is loving having their boss away on a break?
Crikey Says: The 24/7 ABC must do the hard yards
The central question that should always be applied to any new initiative that the ABC rolls out is “what’s in it for us”?
The Liberal Party: a pack of grumpy old bastards (and bitches)
The Liberals have become the Grumpy Old Party of Australian politics, says Bushfire Bill. Do they really expect to win over the Australian public by being a pack of sour-faced fuddy-duddies?
Wankley Awards: The media’s royally crushed on Wills
The Australia media’s “We Willy willy like you” response to Prince William’s visit left the Crikey team with little doubt as to what the topic of this week’s Wankley would be. Crikey Intern Flint Duxfield examines the field.
How to become a Lonely Planet author
Ever dreamed of packing in your nine-to-five roaming the globe as an intrepid travel writer? You know you have. Word is that Lonely Planet will be looking for new authors soon. An anonymous LP writer offers advice on how to score one of the coveted jobs.
Peta: Using stupidity and sex to sell a good cause
Peta president Ingrid Newkirk defends the controversial organisation’s use of sexy woman, sensationalist tactics and “baby steps” approach in the fight for animal rights: it’s worth it if it gets results.
Is it too soon for a beach holiday in Haiti?
Cruise company Royal Caribbean has come under some heavy scrutiny for continuing to take tourists to Haiti after last week’s earthquake. But could their tourist dollars be exactly what the impoverished nation needs in its darkest hour?
A green country is a happy country
Apparently, money really doesn’t buy happiness: the happiest countries are those that protect their environment and biodiversity, offering their citizens the prospect of a sustainable future.
How much for the coat of arms? Selling out our national identity
We assume national symbols are owned by the nation. But not when they’ve been plastered across products to sell them off to patriotic consumers, writes Richard White and Melissa Harper.
The real killer in Haiti: politics, not earthquakes
Haitians aren’t destitute because they’re somehow genetically predisposed to it, says Charles Richardson: their troubles are fundamentally political.
Maths pr0n: Why R2-D2 weighs less than Styrofoam
Nerd alert: A physics professor uses images of Star Wars’ R2-D2 flying to calculate exactly how much the little droid must weigh — about 100g, apparently.
graph pr0n The 10 most stolen cars in the US
1994 Honda Accords are either really trendy amongst American criminals, or really easy to break into — more than 55,000 of them were nicked in the US last year.
Film review: Nine — a carbon-cop Chicago sing and dance snoozer
Director Rob Marshall’s follow-up to his leg-kicking, Oscar-snaring Chicago is Nine, an Italian soft porn musical. For all its musical grunt and sexual innuendo, it is bland as plain tofu, writes Luke Buckmaster.
leaked 
The Apple Tablet: it’s a giant iPhone
AppleInsider claims to have the inside scoop on the most hyped product of the millennium, the Apple Tablet/Slate/Pad/whiz-bang-eReader-thingo: it’s basically a really big, flat iPhone.
Obama’s big bank plan won’t do squat
Obama’s new restrictions on banks are a great idea, says Henry Blodget — except Lehman, Bear Stearns, Goldman, Morgan, et al. weren’t “banks”.
Turnbull: He may be Prince Charming but the monarchy is a still a toad
Yes, of course Prince William is welcomed enthusiastically by Australia — we’re not barbarians. But he won’t change the republican tide of support, argues Malcolm Turnbull.
The importance of immigration
Community dissatisfaction with immigration is all due to government management not immigration figures. And the Labor shift from skilled migration to family migration will cost us significantly, writes Coalition spokesperson for immigration, Scott Morrison.
WSJ: Rudd doesn’t know what Australians want — we do
In an op-ed that reads like a Liberal Party press release, the Wall St Journal says Kevin Rudd is out-of-step with ordinary Australians, and calls on him to ditch his “big, fat tax” ETS plans and “other expensive, big-government ideas”.
Dear Conservative Movement: it’s time we saw other people…
American Conservative editor Michael Dougherty pens an acerbic break-up letter to the conservative movement: “you’ve made yourself a prostitute for the GOP, a cynical and corrupt organization…”
Torturing detainees: a how-to guide
A former Air Force officer runs through the US military’s Army Field Manual and its guidelines on interrogating prisoners: sleep deprivation, isolation and stress positions are all A-OK.
Google: a Chinese perspective
Westerners may be applauding Google’s recent up-yours to China, but what do actual Chinese people think? According to Evan Osnos, most are totally baffled by the whole thing: why would a company choose morals over profit?
