10 reasons why you should watch an Underbelly DVD.

1. Skip the commercials. Fat Tony And Co DVD is currently showing on channel nine but seriously do you really want to watch all those annoying commercials? In this day and age when we are all super busy who has the time to sit on the couch and be bombarded by commercials. Watch each season the way it was meant to be, in one long binge viewing session.

2. Underbelly is Australian. Support our local Aussie industry that supports Australian jobs from the on-air talent through to the production crew and all the way to wardrobe and catering. Every dollar spent purchasing an Australian DVD is a dollar saved from going overseas. That means more dollars to go around for content producers to make even more Aussie shows which are really expensive to make for our small Australian market.

3. It’s really good. There’s no better reason to purchase a DVD than because you really like it. There are 7 seasons of Underbelly produced so far (plus an Underbelly NZ season), all available to order on DVD and Blu Ray. All of a really high standard and all captivating.

4. You can watch any season in isolation. Whilst there may be some character cross-overs, you can watch any Underbelly season without having had to watch an earlier Underbelly season.

5. All seasons based on real-life events. Whilst some artistic licence is had and some names have been changed due to legal reasons, all Underbelly seasons are based on real-life Australian events.

6. The narrator. Caroline Craig who you may remember from Blue Heelers bring a like unique Aussie style of narration that sort of draws all the seasons together. Because all seasons are stand-alone stories (with a few character cross overs) you aren’t on a journey across 7 seasons so Caroline Craig’s narration along with the annoying Underbelly theme brings all the seasons together.

7. The perfect man-gift. It’s the perfect gift for any bloke. Yes, Underbelly is skewed to a male demographic, with all that violence and shooting and language and nudity, every bloke will love it. Oh ok, yes it makes a great gift for anyone over 18.

8. Matthew Newton in season 2. See the talent the world is missing out on due to his personal issues. In my opinion season 2 is the best Underbelly season, Underbelly Tale Of Two Cities starring Matthew Newton. Due to his well-publicised personal issues Matthew Newton hasn’t really worked much since then which is an incredible shame. It had huge potential to be our next Mel Gibson, oh not sure if that was to aim for, maybe we should say our next superstar. With his pedigree, being the son of Australian TV royalty Burt and Patty Newton he was destined for greatness.

9. Water cooler talk. Underbelly epitomises water cooler talk. You need to have watched the latest Underbelly season to keep up with what everyone else talking about it.

10. Ultraviolet. Underbelly Fat Tony & Co comes with free UV with the DVD and Blu Ray purchase. So you own the DVD or Blu Ray forever and then also own the UV version meaning you can stream or download the season to your PC, TV or Phone. It’s the best of both worlds.

The 2014 86^th Academy Awards have just finished for another year with best picture going to 12 Years A Slave DVD.

I thought host Ellen DeGeneres’s opening was a little flat but also gave us one of the funniest moment of the awards when she joked there are only two options tonight, either 12 Years A Slave wins Best Picture, or you’re all racists.

Raging hot favourite Aussie Cate Blanchett came through and won Best Actress as expected for the incredible Blue Jasmine. Matthew McConaughey was favourite for Best Actor and also won for Dallas Buyers Club.

With the exception of missing out on the big award, the biggest winner of the night was the movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney even though neither won their individual categories but Director Alfonso Cuaron did take out the converted Best Director award. Gravity won a swag of technical awards including for sound and cinematography.

There wasn’t a lot of surprises throughout the night with Frozen DVD winning best animated movie. It also won for best original song.

There were three standing ovations for the night. One went to Bette Midler after her oh-no-not-again performance of Wind Beneath My Wings. The other standing ovation went to Pink for her outstanding performance of Somewhere Over The Rainbow celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the Wizard Of Oz. Must have been a little daunting with Judy Garland’s daughter Liza Minelli in the audience.

One of the most popular decisions of the night went to Lupita Nyong’o who won Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years A Slave and was clearly humbled by the standing ovation. It will be very interesting to see this incredibly talented actress grow over the years. Might have to revisit this blog in 5 years time.

Jared Leto won best supporting actor for Dallas Buyers Club after taking 5 years away from acting while concentrating on his band 30 Seconds To Mars. Though some of us may remember him starring with Claire Danes in the 1990s TV Show My So Called Life.

All up I wouldn’t call it the best Oscars with very few surprises but the movies nominated this year, I think, is one of the best batch in years.