Pop Life
The Sunday Age
Sunday October 5, 2008
WIZARD PEOPLE Every B-grade DVD release seems to have an audio commentary these days, with unknown actors and directors hauled out of their retirement homes to converse about films they barely remember making. Providing an alternative soundtrack to someone else's film, though, is far more interesting. Arkansas comic-book artist Brad Neely created a stir when he released an unauthorised retelling of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - an audio book to be played over the viewing of the original film, called Wizard People, Dear Readers. Originally circulated among friends, it took on a life of its own on the internet and was eventually screened in New York cinemas. In Wizard People, Harry becomes a foul-mouthed, god-like brat; Hermione a hideously ugly wretch; and Ron Weasley a self-described "pot of coffee by day, bottle of wine by night" kind of guy. Warner Brothers, producers of the film, threatened to withhold future movies from theatres that screened the retelling - but the full version is available, free, on YouTube.
COUCH WANTED Sydney comic Nick Sun has long tested the tolerances of comedy audiences with bizarre, shambolic performances that alternate between inspired hilarity and pure punk chaos. His current show for the Melbourne Fringe is billed as non-comedy - it's an "improvisational speech/movement/wall of noise" experiment - but it turns out to be one of his funniest performances yet. It comes down to the premise. In lieu of a ticket price, audiences pay by the barter system. Opening night saw Sun receiving two bottles of wine, a book, chocolate, some mega B vitamins and a care package of assorted goodies. In exchange, he offered an intermittently brilliant performance that had the audience on-side throughout. The best bit: he's hoping that someone will pay by offering him shelter - a couch will do - and, over the course of the season, will create a log of the different houses he's been allowed to board in. Give the man a home.TAKING THE MICKEY If the urban legends are true, poor Walt Disney's frozen head must be turning in its cryogenic grave. Philip Glass, about to hit our shores for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, has just agreed to compose an operatic adaptation of Peter Stephan Jungk's novel The Perfect American. The story follows the final months of Disney's life as related by a fictional Australian working as a cartoonist for the man. Uncle Walt is apparently shown as a racist, anti-communist Scrooge living a pitiful existence. Sounds like the opera that launched a thousand lawsuits. We can't wait. -- John Bailey
© 2008 The Sunday Age
