- By Entertainment Reporter James Tobin

++ UPDATED 26 May 2009 Meet me, see Christian Bale!

I have another film to take some Sunrise viewers to and this time you can bring a friend. If you can join me in Sydney at 6.10pm this Wednesday (May 27) then 

EMAIL ME HERE!

Please include your age and a contact number - just so we can ensure we get a broad range of views on each film.

We can now announce the name of the film, Terminator Salvation. Here's the awesome trailer:

Here's a twitter comment from a Box Officer who joined me last week:

 ++ UPDATED 22 May 2009 Tweets of joy

    >> @supblek Just came back from the screen of State of Play. Great movie. Thanks to @sunriseon7 reporter James Tobin!

++ UPDATED 21 May 2009 Free tix to 'State of Play'

If you would like to join me to see State of Play at 7pm next Monday (25 May), then read the post below to become one of our first 'Box Officers'.

 

 

++ UPDATED 20 May 2009 - "BECOME A BOX OFFICER!"

Hi everyone,

I am starting something new that will see me take five lucky Sunrise viewers with me to a weekly preview screening of an upcoming film! You'll also get to share your opinion of the film for all Sunrise viewers.

To be one of our first Sunrise 'Box Officers', you can be any age, you just need to live in Sydney and email me your name, age and where you live. And please write 'Box Officer' in the subject line.

Hope to see you in the theatre soon!

EMAIL ME HERE!

 

++ UPDATED 21 October 5.38pm 

THE ARIA AWARDs

What a night!
It all started on the red carpet.
There was so much excitement,  the crowds were huge and the sun was very hot at ACER Arena.

The biggest arrival of the night was Pink - who worked the crowds and then ran down the  carpet past lots of waiting media to get inside and ready for the night.

This is the first time I was sitting at a table - invited to be down on the floor - which meant  i was right up the front for some amazing performances.

I thought Hamish and Andy did a great job hosting with James Mathieson.

The three-course meal was delicious but I spent so much time chatting to people my food was cold by the time I ate it. 

Pink really stole the show but Faker, The Veronicas and Sam Sparro, Gabriella Cilmi were all brilliant.

It was great to see Gabriella Cilmi for the first time since we hung out in London a few months back.
It's so exciting to see her rise and I'm so happy she took out six ARIAs.

We had  a chat on the red carpet and I managed to get a photo with her.

As for fashion, I decided to go with red satin pants!
Big call, I know, but i figured if you are going to be in a room full of rock stars you may as well dress like one!

Had a great chat with Sam Sparro. It turns out I met him once before when he used to sing with a friend of mine in Sydney before the move to London to get a record deal. Really nice guy and it's great to see an Aussie doing so well at home and overseas.
 
The first afterparty i went to was the EMI party at The Ivy.

The music there was fantastic and the dancefloor was going off. I was shaking my tail-feather with the guys from Operator Please, Faker and Danny and Renee from Channel V.

Chris Lilley - star of We Can be Heroes and Summer Heights High - was one of the most popular men of the night.

All night he was getting asked to do Jonah! Very funny.


At the SONY afterparty, I caught up with the newlywed Kate Miller-Heidke (who is going to be on Sunrise Thursday) and she looked amazing, as always.
I also saw the guys from Lovers Electric (who were on Sunrise recently) - their album is one of my favourites at the moment - they are also one of the nicest couples you'll ever meet.

The coolest haircut of the ARIAs goes to Emma Hewitt of the band Missing Hours. The band is made up of Em and her brother Ant.
One of their influences is the White Stripes and with their white hair these two are white hot and great fun.
 


PUSSYCAT DOLLS
I'm an even bigger fan now than I was before I met the girls. I saw them on the Opera House steps after they had come straight off a flight from Berlin.
The way they performed considering it was raining the entire time was amazing.
I spoke to Melody the next day when they performed on The Plaza for Sunrise and she told me at one point she had slipped over on the wet stage and had bruised her back. What commitment!

Being right in front of the plaza stage was an incredible experience and the  way the girls  hung around to sign autographs and take photos with their fans was really impressive.

They're planning on coming back in April. I told Jess that my birthday is the first of April and she said they'd sing me Happy Birthday!
You better be believe I will be reminding them when the time comes!

THE VERONICAS
Backing up after the ARIAs is a big ask but Lisa and Jess showed they've got amazing stamina by belting out two songs on Sunrise today.

Not only would they have been weary after the afterparties but Jess was also bleeding - well, just a little bit - her arm is still recovering after she had a bit more ink added to a tattoo on her arm.


KATE MILLER-HEIDKE
I'm thrilled Kate M-H is going to be on the show on Thursday.
She told me she was very impressed with my effort when I danced to her new single on Sunrise - because we played it before they had even finished the video clip. If you missed it, it was a pretty special effort really, really bad dancing.


PINK
When she was last here, Pink broke records for how many concerts she sold out - so to get the chance to see her free on The Plaza on Sunrise this Friday is phenomenal.

I am expecting hundreds maybe thousands of people.

If you are planning to come get here early because she always puts on an incredible show.

 

++ UPDATED 15 October  9.33am

 

 

++ UPDATED 17 September 12.10pm 

Now resting after eight weeks of long days in training with his dancing partner Jade Hatcher, Sunrise Entertainment Reporter James Tobin says in his blog the two will be seeing more of each other…

 

Dancing with Jade

Jade and I got on very well.

She was fantastic. I couldn’t want anyone better. It was her first time on Dancing With The Stars too, so we went through that together.

Spending 6 hours a day with someone, you certainly get to know them

We’ll definitely continue seeing each other.

Going to work each day, and being physical with Jade every day certainly wasn’t hard.

She doesn’t have a professional partner at the moment so I’m saying “Lets go to Nationals together later in the year!”

 

 

A weekly adrenaline buzz

Jade said to me ‘you are always gunna get something wrong.’

And that’s so true.

It’s like when you see yourself on TV or hear your own voice, you go ‘urrrgh’. But it’s such a supportive little green room we never felt bad.

You come off the floor feeling so buzzed.

All your senses are firing for live television, so you come off so amped, it’s a really fantastic feeling.

Doesn’t really compare to anything else, it’s a pretty unique feeling.

There’s a huge surge of adrenaline just before you go on.

Then, the next day you’re straight back into training (View exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photos.)

 

Being voted off

It is definitely disappointing to be gone – but at the same time I feel it was something I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I was on the show for 3 weeks plus 5 weeks of training. I’m sure it would’ve been great to get a few extra weeks, but I feel I got everything out of the show that I wanted.

I just wanted to be a slightly better dancer!

Lifts were my biggest challenge. I was happy with all my lifts, except the last one.

Every week I made time to practice the Dirty Dancing lift (see pic), so at the end of the show when we lost, and you come back on to dance, I was saying to Jade, come on! Let’s do the lift now! And she went totally red.

We’re back in week 10 – so maybe I will convince her to let me try it then.

We have to practice in a river or a lake!

See you all back on the show in week 10. We will really need to wow the crowd.

 

++ UPDATED 23 June 2008 1.54pm

I am blogging from the airport on my way back to Brekky Central from the Gold Coast where I have just met the stars of Get Smart!

I interviewed Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway together and they really do have the same chemistry you see between them on screen.

I guess that’s one reason they combine them for interviews.

That, and each journo takes them half as much time!

I only had five minutes, I had a gag which they both played along with, thankfully.

When it was done, Anne said to Steve, ‘You know you everyone is going to do that to you now!’

I couldn’t have asked for two more obliging stars really easy to talk to.

 

“Stars in the true sense of the word.
No star-size egos.” 

Very generous with their answers. Stars in the true sense of the word. No star-size egos.

(All the really big stars, well, the ones I have met, have all been wonderful easy people. I am yet to find someone who throws their weight around.)

I read stuff that Steve had said in researching the interview, and he said that if he had been younger coming into fame - he talks lightheartedly - he might have behaved differently and lived a life of excess, been more arrogant. He’s not though, he’s just a brilliantly funny man.

Anne Hathaway looked amazing. She’s quite little, then these massive eyes and massive lips. Definitely stunning.

I would have loved to have spoken to them individually; I had so many questions for them, but oh well.

As for the film, which I saw last night at a big premiere, they really do manage to keep it in the same vein as the TV show but in a modern setting.

The original characters were, if you think about it, quite old fashioned.

Their relationship is unique, and it doesn’t seem exactly as it was. Anne (playing 99) is more into the action, and as for Max, he’s a brainiac analyst who gets a shot at being a field agent.

There was a party last night following the red carpet premiere up here on the Gold Coast.

And let me tell you, it was a pretty wild affair. ‘Chaos’ and ‘Control’ agents roamed around Movieworld, they did stunts, there was a lot of role playing.

They really did spend a lot of cash on this one.

Be sure to watch the interview tomorrow on Sunrise (more on that here).

James.

 

 

 

++ UPDATED  Wed 30 Apr 2008 09:45:55AM

Going into any interview, you hope that you will make a connection – you hope you can break down the barriers, find the real person, during your short, intense chat with a stranger.

 

This is how it was when I interviewed Dannii Minogue.

Before the interview I did my research so I knew a fair bit about her, but with Dannii there was no pretense.

 

“...maybe all the women watching knew what was going on!”

 

She was funny, self-deprecating. In a moment we didn’t show on Sunrise, she made a joke about having little legs and that she couldn’t sit back too far on the couch.

 

She’s such an international star, you are always hearing rumours about her private life

 

So when I started asking about rumours that were out there, all of a sudden she turned it back on me!

 

She threw a curveball asking about my relationships.

 

You can see clearly by watching that she threw me. (Watch video)

 

It all got a bit cryptic (maybe all the women watching knew what was going on)

 

After the interview was finished and Dannii left, the 2 cameramasn in the room stopped me and said “Wow mate, what was going on there!” As if I knew what was going on there!

 

They said, “If you didn’t know something was going on there you’re mad.”

 

I still think she was having a bit of fun with it – the interview

 

But we’ll soon find out.

We see each other again at the logies