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Film Toxic Custard newsletter TV

Video shops are dead – but streaming video ain’t perfect

Let’s see if I can go a whole week without writing a blog post about level crossings. Video shops are dead. For a while there was one (or more) in every suburb. Where I live now in Bentleigh there were at least two. Even Glenhuntly, where I lived in the late-90s, had two. They were  ... [More]

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Film Geek Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Ten years ago: Arise Lord Vader

Here’s another in my series of ten year old photos. Arise Lord Vader — episode 3 got a lot of promotion. Or, as I joked at the time: Connex was aligned with the Dark Side. The Dungeon: platform 13 at Flinders Street. The screens have been replaced with a flat model, and an escalator was  ... [More]

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Film Geek Toxic Custard newsletter transport Video games

Crowdfunded documentaries

I’m aware that my blog has evolved… these days most of the posts are about transport, reflecting my current interests. I wonder if this is a bit dull for those who have been on the old Toxic Custard mailing list, which is the descendant of the humour-based email list I started while at uni. Yet  ... [More]

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Film Melbourne Toxic Custard newsletter transport

1978 film “Mouth to Mouth” includes scenes of Melbourne anti-freeway protests

The recent anti-motorway protests in Melbourne are nothing new. In fact the very same area was subject to protests in the 1970s, when it was proposed to link the Eastern Freeway to the Tullamarine Freeway by way of an aboveground link, by converting Alexandra Parade to a freeway, ploughing through neighbourhoods in Collingwood, Carlton and  ... [More]

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Film Toxic Custard newsletter TV

Doctor Who breaks new ground for television

It would seem Doctor Who is breaking new ground in some interesting ways. They’ve engineered a “world tour” which involves the show’s stars jetting around the world for live appearances in 6 cities around the globe over about a week. It’s just about finished now… I’d imagine they’d be suffering horribly from jetlag by the  ... [More]

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books Doctor Who Film Retrospectives Toxic Custard newsletter TV

Before home video

In the days before home video, we had to resort to other means to re-live movies and TV shows. Novelisations of productions were common. I knew people who had hundreds of Doctor Who novelisations — virtually every story had a book published. I had perhaps a dozen. Other books made it into publication — scripts,  ... [More]

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Film Health TMI TV

Physical wreck: There will be snot

I’m a physical wreck this weekend, from head to foot. Some new shoes are fine for me, but the ones I wore on Thursday resulted in three blisters: one on each heel, and another on one of my toes. I’m sure the shoes will settle down after a couple of wears, but in the mean  ... [More]

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Film

The Hobbit part 1

Finally got around to watching The Hobbit part 1. I thought being the first of three films, and at 2 hours 45 minutes, it would drag a bit, but it really didn’t. Nicely done. Cumberbatch really nailed Smaug, didn’t he. I can just see him going into a studio to record his voice for part  ... [More]