Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 3: A Song That Makes You Dance

This is gonna be a bit of a blast from the past.  Just warning you now.

Day 3: A Song That Makes You Dance

I don't dance very much, but I am capable of it, even good at it.  And the one song that can get me dancing without fail is "How Bizarre" by OMC. 

New Zealand Week: Day 7: Star Profiles: Danielle Cormack

Danielle Cormack

Danielle Cormack got her start in theater in her native New Zealand and first came to real prominence as a teenager with a role in the soap opera Gloss.  She's compiled quite the list of credits since then, with her abundant talents for both comedy and drama making her a natural choice for a rich variety of roles in television, film, and theater.

New Zealand Week: Day 7: Star Profiles: Karl Urban

Karl Urban

Karl Urban is one of New Zealand's stars who has managed to start getting some real footing in the entertainment industry outside of his homeland as well.  Though he is primarily a star of action-type films where Americans are concerned, a review of his career shows an actor also adept at comedic roles, and at deep drama.

New Zealand Week: Day 6: Star Profiles: Rena Owen

Rena Owen

As one of New Zealand's top female stars, Rena Owen has taken on many roles through the years.  From her beginnings in theater to breakthrough roles in film and television, she has shown herself to be among the top acting talents around.  She's also overcome personal problems and addiction, never letting life beat her down.

New Zealand Week: Day 5: Star Profiles: Temuera Morrison

Temuera Morrison

Temuera Morrison is one of New Zealand's biggest stars, known at home and abroad as an amazing actor capable of handling everything from comedy to intense drama to action with ease.  In a career that has thus far spanned over 20 years, he has proven himself a powerful performer who can enfuse almost any role with true feeling and heart.

New Zealand Week: Day 5: Author Profiles: Ronald Hugh Morrieson

Ronald Hugh Morrieson

Ronald Hugh Morrieson (29 January, 1922-26 December, 1972) was one of those unfortunate artists whose fame does not cement itself until after death.  He even semi-predicted this outcome in a comment to a friend several years prior to his demise.  In Morrieson's case, his real fame arrived a decade after his death, with the successful film adaptations of three of the four novels he had written.

New Zealand Week: Day 3: Review: The Price of Milk (2000)

This is a film that, after even one viewing, you won't soon forget, whether you like it or not.  It's magical, mystical, weird...altogether trippy.  It's got romance, betrayal, danger...everything that makes a fairy tale great.  Don't let that put you off though.  This is a film with a heart and a message.

New Zealand Week: Day 2: Author Profiles: Alan Duff

Alan Duff.

Alan Duff, born 26 October, 1950, is one of New Zealand's leading authors.  He is best known for his novel, Once Were Warriors, the first book in a trilogy dealing with the troubles of a Māori (New Zealand aboriginal) family in modern New Zealand.

New Zealand Week: Day 1: Star Profiles: Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless

I've already kicked off New Zealand Week over on my horror blog, and now we're gonna start things off here with a profile of a star who'll be recognizable to a lot of people outside of  New Zealand. (I'm easing you into things, see?  Aren't I nice blogger?  Say it.  Say that Lela's a nice blogger!  Very good.  Here.  Have an apple.)

Just a note for my U.S. readers (pretty sure that's all three of you), I'll be using international dating conventions in these profiles; for example, rather than writing, say, January 1, 1954, it would be 1 January, 1954.

Lucy Lawless is best known for her roles as Xena on the series Xena: Warrior Princess and D'anna Biers on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.  She's also had roles on everything from The X-Files to Veronica Mars and made a small cameos in the first Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man film and Boogeyman.  To the average person (read: not an obsessed fan), it might seem that Lucy's fame just happened overnight.  But it's not as if Lucy just appeared one day, rising from the dust of Aotearoa and taking a small part on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and then bursting into stardom.  No, she's a bit more complicated than that.

I'm Magic! or, How I Really Decided to do This Blog's First Theme Week

Earlier today I was kicking back, working on some possible blog posts.  I noticed that I was doing reviews of a lot of films from New Zealand.  The entire culture and entertainment industry of that place has interested me for a long time, and then I started to think that it might be fun to do a weeks worth of overviews and guides to films, music, and television from New Zealand.

A few hours later I learned that, while I was dreaming up Kiwi Theme Week, there was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand.   The international dateline means it happened on Saturday morning for them, but still!

My thought must've caused it.  That or it's the earth warning us, what with the earlier quake up near the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.

But I'll stick with the "Lela has a magic brain" theory.

I'm monitoring Radio New Zealand, national stream, to keep up.

Next week is New Zealand week on EPP.

So...yeah.