Hollywood Costume at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image

If you haven't yet checked it out, I highly recommend the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square, Melbourne.

As the online catalogue says:

The greatest movie characters of all time.

Direct from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Hollywood Costume explores the central role costume design plays in cinema storytelling. Bringing together the most iconic costumes from a century of filmmaking, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the clothes worn by unforgettable and beloved characters in films from The Wizard of Oz (1939) to Titanic (1997), Ben-Hur (1959) to Casino Royale (2006).

There's something in this exhibition for everyone - film fans, aspiring film makers, amateur seamstresses and budding fashion designers. In addition to the amazing clothes, there's a nice AV installation of recorded interviews with filmmakers and their designers - the highlight for me was the clip of the incomparable Edith Head (the inspiration for The Incredibles'  Edna Mode), talking about designing for Alfred Hitchcock. This is the woman who gave us Kim Novak's extraordinary grey suit in Vertigo and Grace Kelly's negligee in Rear Window. Neither of which, unfortunately are in this exhibition. Nor is Ursula Andress' white bikini from Dr No or James Dean's red jacket from Rebel Without a Cause.

Dang.

Needless to say, it's still pretty amazing and takes no more than an hour to enjoy. There are three days left before it's gone, so Dusty says go go go.

Thank you for smoking...pipes?????!!!! WTF?

Folks, I think I've now seen (and smelled) the latest incarnation of hipster pretentiousness.

Yesterday afternoon, I was walking past the National Australia Bank office in East Melbourne. Diagonally opposite the Greek Orthodox church on Lansdowne Street, what should I see but three twenty-something men sporting beards, neat haircuts, tattoos, skinny chinos and buttoned-up plaid shirts - smoking pipes.

Nope, they weren't boldly passing a bong around. They were smoking professor / old dad traditional pipes. Sherlock Holmes pipes. Hugh Hefner pipes. Your granddad pipes.

Sweet effing Jesus. I thought I'd seen it all.

I suppose it sits nicely alongside the faux-traditional single-origin-coffee-grinding, vinyl-record-playing, olive-pickling and beer-making lifestyle so affected by this particular group, but pipe-smoking?

What next? Tobacco-chewing?

Paging Doctor Capaldi - or consider another Doctor Who

Nerds, geeks and fanboys all across the world should be thrilled by the decision to cast Scottish actor Peter Capaldi as the latest incarnation of the travelling Time Lord. Fans of TV show The Thick of It and the wonderful film In the Loop will no doubt find it difficult to reconcile Capaldi's incendiary performance as the foul-mouthed, rage-oholic spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker in those works with the charismatic Doctor. I know I will be waiting to see my favourite Galifreyan burst into manic, expletive-strewn tirades against assorted space oddities, villains and unsuspecting aliens, the trademark bulging veins pulsating madly in his skinny skinny neck. Excellent choice.

But it got me thinking...

There are DW fans out there more passionate, committed and knowledgable than yours truly who are no doubt blogging furiously about other casting possibilities, including whether we're ready for a black actor to play the good Doctor. I think we were ready a long time ago for that...Richard Ayoade was seriously considered for the twelfth Doctor, but what about the tasty Colin Salmon? He'd give the Doctor some serious sex appeal, no?

But consider this alternative: What if, as part of his regeneration, he became a woman? There's enough material in the DW canon / folklore to suggest Galifreyans can change gender when they regenerate. If that's the case, screw getting a black guy to play the doctor and give us a chick instead. And what about some nice hot boy eye-candy as the Doctor's companion?

Consider a Doctor played by outsized aristo funny-girl Miranda Hart (with the elfin James McAvoy as her platonic boy toy) or one portrayed by serious thespy Emma Thompson. She'd bring her own special mix of whimsy and gravitas to the part, surely? How about Emily Blunt or Kate Winslet in a couple of years? Helena Bonham Carter has some comic chops. I'd even give it to Kristen Wiig if I thought she could pull off a convincing English accent (for we are not yet ready for a female AND American Doctor...).

It'll be a couple of years before we need to consider the 13th Doctor. Until then...