Happy Birthday John Lennon, 09 Oct 1940 - 08 December 1980

Partying All Over the World; Fans Remember John Lennon



Had John Lennon lived, he would be seventy-two today. It's really hard to fathom that it has been almost thirty-two years since he was shot and killed on a New York street outside his home. 

This year, as is the case every year; celebrations will occur all around the world as fans remember the legend that was: John Lennon. The following events are below: 



Friday October 5th-9th, SoHo, NYC: The Artwork of John Lennon in New York: An exhibition featuring Lennon’s work, called “Gimme Some Truth: The Artwork of John Lennon” will be presented by his widow (and visual artist) Yoko Ono in collaboration with Bag One Arts and Legacy Fine Art and Productions. The show will feature 100 of Lennon’s drawings and sketches, which he created using sumi ink, an Oriental technique. The artwork spans 16 years of Lennon’s life, from 1964 to 1980.Marking the late Lennon’s 72nd birthday, the exhibit will be on display this Friday (October 5th) through October 9th at 130 Prince Street in SoHo, NYC. 


Tuesday, October 9, 6-8pm, Hollywood, California, John Lennon birthday celebration: Peace activist Jerry Rubin (not that Jerry Rubin!) wrote to say, “Please let everyone know about the John Lennon and George Harrison Upcoming Birthday Celebration and Memorial Remembrance Events in front of the Capitol Records Tower Building at the John Lennon and George Harrison Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars, located at 1750 N. Vine Street in Hollywood.”



Tuesday, October 9, 7pm-close, Monroe, Louisiana, John Lennon Birthday Bash: Enochs Irish Pub will host the longest running tribute to Lennon, the 33rd annual John Lennon Birthday Bash, raising a glass and Irish toast to their beloved Irish son. The Lonely Peppers will perform. Jude Southerland Kessler (author of the John Lennon Series will be on hand with a huge birthday cake. (Read full story here.)

Also tune in to Beatles-a-rama!!! internet radio station to hear Jude's very first John Lennon Hour, Sunday October 6: 8pm EST, 7pm CST, and 5pm PST.

Tuesday, October 9, all day, New York City, Strawberry Fields- Each year fans gather at the Imagine Mosaic in Strawberry Fields, Central Park to leave flowers and sing.

Wednesday, October 10, 7:30, Birds of Paradox, NYC: Musician Jeff Slate and his band Birds of Paradox are paying homage to John with a CD release party October 10th at Joe’s Pub in New York City. They will perform songs from the new CD as well as some Lennon favorites. (Read full article here)

Friday, 12 October, 8pm, London, England: The Quarrymen, John's first band, are getting back together for a rare performance in London. Rod Davis, spokesman for the group, wrote us to say, “Please pass on the news that the Quarrymen are playing a rare gig in London (our first since 2006!) on Fri 12 October at The Castle in Finchley Road.” Len Garry, Colin Hanton, John Duff Lowe and Rod Davis, all original members of the band, will be playing. Also, guest bassist Frank Cairns will be joining them. Click here for info on ticket purchase, click here for the The CastleRocks website.

Source: The Examiner - John Lennon Celebrations


Yesterday the new book; The John Lennon Letters was released. The book was edited by noted Beatles' author Hunter Davies and was sanctioned by Yoko Ono. It contains letters sent by Lennon to lovers, friends, family and fans from every point in his life. Over three hundred letters and postcards are included and contain rants to and against the press, Yoko bashers, George Martin, Paul and Linda McCartney.

Sounds like an interesting read; as it is widely known that John Lennon was somewhat misunderstood and could do and say extremely controversial things and this in turn has created a lot of fascination among fans and people who knew him.

In any case today John Lennon would have been 72, and remains the legend that he was all those years ago. At 40 years of ago, he produced some of his best music when the album Double Fantasy was made. He was shot not long after putting the finishing touches on this amazing album, and what boggles the mind is how much more amazing music would Lennon have created if he were alive today.

Happy Birthday John Lennon.





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Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

Underbelly, Season 5: Badness - Review

The Story of Crime Boss; Anthony Perish and his Life of Crime

The Season 5 Finale of the popular Underbelly series has just finished airing in Australia and the DVD is now available to buy. Filming has already begun on Season 6 which details the life and times of Squizzy Taylor. This season's DVD will contain 8 episodes, plus I would imagine special features and information on the actors and characters. Not since Underbelly, Season 2 have I been so interested in the story being told. Season 3 was a monumental flop, most of which I found boring, and Season 4 told an interesting story that dated back to the 1920's, and into the 1930's, however this season's installment of the Underbelly series had me glued to my TV every week.

    

Underbelly; Badness showcased the talents of many awesome Australian actors, who enthralled critics and viewers with their outstanding acting; it was eight glorious hours of some of the best acting I have ever seen. Jonathan LaPaglia (Anthony Perish), Matt Nable (Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin) and Aaron Jeffrey (Frank O'Rourke) were all brilliant in portraying their characters, in-fact one critic reported that Aaron Jeffrey who was in 3-4 episodes almost stole the show with his portayel of Frank O'Rourke who was Detective Jubelin's key witness and informant during the investigation into Anthony Perish and his gang's involvement in the murder of Terry Falconer.

Having said that the series was not without flaw and several events were exaggerated as is done in many movies and TV series that are based on a true story. But based on the research I conducted after watching some of the episodes, wanting to find out more of the story, most of what was portrayed was pretty accurate. What kept myself and most viewers interested was the amount of time it took to catch Anthony Perish and his gang, which included younger brother, Andrew Perish. It took almost nine years to capture Anthony Perish, and then a further two years to convict him and Matthew Lawton of murdering Terry Falconer. Matthew Lawton, one of Perish's associates is in the process of an appeal. Anthony Perish still maintains that he is guilty of manslaughter only. Andrew Perish was convicted of conspiracy to murder.

The other fascinating facet of this story was how Anthony Perish managed to dodge the grid, and fly under the radar. He was unknown to police, and had no record of existence. For example; no record of phone accounts, credit history, no medicare number, no tax-file number and the list goes on. However when it became clear to viewers on how he made his living, it is understandable that he would want to leave no records around. 

Aaron Jeffreys who played Frank (whose real id was sealed by the court)

The other element that fascinated me was that he was from an area of Sydney where much of my family live. In-fact I am temporarily in Sydney at the moment and I recently found out that Anthony Perish hid out in a fibro-house just down the street from where I'm staying. The same house from the series where he and Matthew Lawton built a metal bunker to protect Anthony from anyone who wanted to shoot him in his sleep. This revelation was more than chilling; not to mention his brother owned some kind of produce business in Camden, which is a place I visit often to see family.

Senior Constable Camile Travis, dedicated to catching Anthony Perish

I have not bought the DVD for this series since Season 2 because I am sure not going to watch Season 3 or 4 again, however this was an Underbelly series I could watch again and really enjoy. It is eight episodes long, and  available in stores now.

What did you think of Underbelly; Badness? Sound off in the comments or connect with me via Twitter or Facebook to have your say.




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Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

Person Of Interest Season 2 Returns To Australia

Will The Machine Save Finch?

In the Season Finale of Person of Interest; Reese must protect a psychologist who has a price on her head. Reese and Finch are completely unaware that this seemingly, helpless damsel in distress is actually their enemy. In Root Cause; Episode 13. Finch accidentally stumbles across a master computer hacker who calls herself Root. Root was plotting a murder to protect an associate's dirty secrets from coming to light. Finch is tracking the source of the accused's emails' and realises his POI has been hacked and set up. Reese, Finch and Zoe (a previous POI) manage to foil Root's plans and stop the crime that's about to happen. However the big twist is when Finch learns at the close of the episode that Root knows his name. 

This is the big question in tonight's episode

In the finale it would seem that Root is an innocent therapist whose life is in danger because she knows to much about her client's secrets. Reese rescues her from an altercation in the street where she is almost killed and takes her to a fancy hotel to lay low for the night. However it isn't too long before the killers find them and enlist HR's help and the FBI are not far behind. While Finch is trying to work every trick up his sleeve to get Reese safely out of the hotel and away from the crooks and the feds; both are unaware that Root is about to take Finch hostage. After what seems an eternity; Reese get's his POI out of the hotel and tells her where she can meet his friend. Finch is in the car arguing with a former colleague of his and Nathan's from the days when they built the machine, Root arrives and kills her. She gets into the car; and introduces herself to Finch. When Reese arrives at the meeting place, Finch and Root are long gone. Zoe, who comes along for the ride again digs up some information on this most recent POI and realises she is not who she claims to be. Zoe calls Reese and gives him the bad news about the not therapist and tells him when the therapist's computer was crashing; the name Root appeared on the screen.

While it is clear that Root is a cold blooded killer, she comes across as misunderstood. And what does she want with Harold Finch? It's clear she knows something about the machine, but what? And how much? I really hope that Reese doesn't kill or capture her too soon as it would be interesting to learn what her motives are and I don't think we have seen all of them yet. One things for sure, the woman set up her own contract killing. If that doesn't tell us that she suspects or knows something solid about the machine, then I don't know what to say. Unless this woman is plain crazy-cakes, which is possible, but doubtful. Who on earth orchestrates their own murder? She must have knowledge of what Finch and Reese do; after all they messed up her plans in episode 13

    

He's in trouble now

In a New York street Reese stands in front of a camera not knowing whether it is linked to Finch's machine or not and says "He's in trouble now, you have to save him." We hear a phone ring and Reese turns around; it is a pay-phone and he answers it. This is where we leave Season 1. We don't know if Finch is dead or alive; we don't have any idea where he could be and neither does Reese. Suffice to say without spoiling anyone, John Reese makes it his top priority to find Finch.

In Season 2 it looks like we are going to learn a lot more about how the machine works and how it gets the numbers that is gives Finch and Reese each week. We will also get to see some of the protocols Finch put in place to ensure the machine does what it's supposed to do. The first episode titled Contingency makes it clear from the outset that Reese is Finch's contingency. In a previous episode last season I remember Finch telling Reese that he did have a plan in place for what would occur if anything happened to him. Reese figures out he is the contingency quite early in the episode and it becomes clear to viewers after events go back to 2002 that Finch has programmed the machine not to save him; in other words Reese will not be able to rely on the machine to find Finch. Finding Root and discovering who she truly is will be the key. Tonight when Reese realises he is the contingency plan he is not happy and certainly not jazzed about the machine giving him the number of another POI that he needs to rescue. 

    

Zoe and Detective Carter, John and Harold's Guardian Angels

Are you fascinated by this intriguing series? Season Two of Person of Interest premieres in Australia tonight. Make sure you watch tomorrow night at 9.30pm on the Nine Network. 




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America's Top Rating Drama "Person of Interest" Is Back

Updated; 03 October 2012



Australian TV network; Channel 9 is fast-tracking Season 2 of Person of Interest. We are currently seeing the last few episodes of Season 1 in Sydney and Brisbane. The Season finale will screen this Monday; 1 Oct 2012, while viewers in other states and affiliated networks will most likely get a double episode to catch up. This idiotic mess was created so the Nine Network would not miss out on ratings due to coverage in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth of the AFL Brownlow Medal. It seems a little stupid; given XFactor has been kicking butt in the ratings for the last few weeks.

When Channel 9 fast-tracked Person of Interest Season 1 last year, ratings were very good considering the 9.30 timeslot on a Sunday night. Even the repeated episodes that were shown in the summer did well. In early 2012 Person of Interest was slotted into Monday nights after Alcatraz (which has since been axed in the US) and sometimes did not start until as late as 10.30pm. However it still rated extremely well, with episodes sometimes reaching 1 million viewers, and repeats gaining several hundred thousand viewers. The network held onto three episodes from Season 1 as a lead in to Season 2 and this has not worked. When a show disappears on Free to Air (FTA) Television many fans assume the show has been axed. 

However Person of Interest has just premiered Season 2 in the US and will be shown here soon. No airdate for Season 2 has been advertised by Channel 9 at the time of writing, but it is assumed that it will be aired on Monday, October 8 which is about 3 days after episode 2 of Season 2 airs in the US.  Person of Interest was the most watched drama series in the US last year. The pilot episode recorded between 7 and 15 million viewers. Last Thursday's Season 2 premiere opened to lower numbers however that is expected to grow as it was up against Grey's Anatomy which ended on a big cliff-hanger last season. While it's US network CBS won the night; Person of Interest was a little disappointing in the advertising demographic numbers.

While it is common knowledge that what rates in the US does not necessarily do well here; Alcatraz did rate well here, however the numbers were obviously not enough for Fox to renew it in the US. In the case of Person of Interest, it has done very well here, in the US and to countries it has been syndicated to overseas. So the hope is that the Nine network schedule it in a decent timeslot so it has a chance to rate as well as it did last season.

Given that the Nine network are promoting the heck out of the fact that it was the most watched drama on US TV last year, it would seem that their intentions are clear. However, TV networks in Australia notoriously introduce new shows all the time, only for them to disappear weeks later; anyone remember the new and improved Dallas series. Fans who were into that will probably never see the episodes that were bought. What a waste. 

This will not happen to Person of Interest; this I am confident of and I'm not saying this because it's one of my favourite shows. Channel Nine made a serious mistake holding over those last three episodes and my hope is they don't do it again. 



Update 3 Oct 2012; Person of Interest Season 2 will premiere on 08 October 2012 at 9.30 pm on the Nine network. Information courtesy of local TVGuide in TVWeek, 6 Oct 2012.





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Happy Birthday Michael Jackson - Always In Our Hearts

Today Michael Jackson would have celebrated his fifty-fourth birthday had he not passed away so suddenly just over four years ago. 

Deviant Art

What a loss his death was; not just to his family and children, but to his fans and the music world. Michael Jackson was one of the most talented musicians this world has ever seen and we will never see anything like him again. He was special and unique, his voice and his dance moves on stage, there was no-one on earth like him. 


Michael has left behind a huge legacy; his music and his three beautiful children who will carry on and do wonderful things in their lives. These children are so much like their father, it is uncanny. You only have to look at their faces to see that their father lives on in them. My heart goes out to them and all Michael's family on this day, as it does everyday I think about the huge loss they must feel. Michael loved his family; especially his children above all else and would have done anything for them. A generous, giving person right up to the very end.


When I get in the car later today to make my road trip to visit my own mother who has passed away, I will be playing his music as load as it will go. I am so grateful for the legacy he has left us; his fans. His music, the many DVD's that I can watch over and over to keep this amazing person alive in my heart.
Note to self; must find Michael Jackson DVDs while searching through boxes this weekend. I remember his birthday, and unfortunately the date of his passing every year, the same way I will never forget the day my mum died or the day John Lennon was shot. As a teenager I had a secret fantasy that one day Michael Jackson and I would get married; (yeah, me and every other female fan).


Yeah I know this seems kind of sappy, and depressing; but I can't help it. I still can't believe he is gone and it is even more tragic that he was only 50 years old, and left behind his children who without a doubt loved their Dad, and grieve his passing every day of their lives. To be totally honest, I am still angered by his death as it should never have happened. Conrad Murray has since been tried and convicted of being complicit in Michael's death and this man had the nerve in February this year to request bail while his appeal was going through. He was sentenced to four years jail for his crime (not unreasonable, perhaps he should have gotten longer), and many fans feel he should shut up and do his time. 

Generous with his fans

In any case we can't go back; what is done is done and as much as I wish Michael was still alive; he isn't. What we as fans will have is his music, the memories of his performances, his dancing and the man that was Michael Jackson.

So missed by fans

Happy Birthday Michael, your fans miss you so much and we hope you are resting in peace.

Commons.Wikimedia

Click here to read my article about Dr Conrad Murray and his role in Michael Jackson's death




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