The Only Reason You Need to Get Outta Town This New Year's

Guess who's coming to town this New Year's Eve? That's right, the world's most hateful celebrity, Paris Hilton. This information came to me as a sting in the tail of an unsurprising fluff piece in the SMH about Paris' brand new, life size barbie car that she bought herself for Christmas. The new "barbie car" is a pink Bentley valued at around $200,000 and even has "anti-paparazzi" window tinting. If only City of Sydney would lash out and install some anti-Paris tinting on our fair city for the new year period.

Tinky Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Ever the consumate professional, Tinky posed for her yearly Christmas card photo shoot this afternoon. Despite overcast weather and what she described as 'a deeply embarrassing outfit that demeans us both' we managed to get the shot.

See for yourself. For my money, the first shot is the best. She looks real grumpy in some of the others ... 

Independent Cinema Closures - Part I

I've been getting around to writing something on this issue for a couple of years. And yes, this is going to be one of those fist-banging, impassioned plea type posts. It's also a cautionary tale along the lines of Don't Let Your Local (or not so local) Indie Cinema Close Down.

To begin. Ahem. 

When I was a girl, there were heaps of indie cinemas in Sydney. Let's see if I can remember them all ... the Valhalla in Glebe, the Mandolin in town, the Roma on George Street, the Walker Street Cinema in North Sydney, the Stanmore (Twin?) Cinema, the Greater Union on Pitt Street and the one that used to play a constant rotation of John Waters and Russ Meyers films - the Encore. Needless to say, all these fine indies are now long gone and with them the rich indie cinema culture that I used to so enjoy as a teen and 20 something.

I remember seeing Leon The Pig Farmer and Chasing Amy at the Walker Street in my lower north shore days (don't tell anyone, please). Oh, and who could forget seeing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at the Mandolin Cinema .... and of course there was the heart wrenching travesty of the Dendy Martin Place closing to make way for a *cough, splutter* Harvey Norman electronics store. Now that really hurts. I remember taking myself off to see Burnt By The Sun at Dendy Martin Place one work day afternoon. Memories and all that. 

Thank Christ we've still got the Chauvel and the Orpheum!

It wasn't all beer and skittles though. The Stanmore Cinema was pretty overpriced for what you got and had next to no ambience. And I remember numerous times gagging on the smell of rising damp in the main theatre of the Valhalla. To make matters worse, the uber-cool Valhalla staff didn't seem to grasp the technology of properly carbonating the post mix soft drinks, so you always ended up with a flat coke or fanta. AND sometimes they would leave the outer door to Hereford Street and the cinema doors open, so you could hear passing cars during the movie. And the last film I saw at the Val was an extremely disappointing French film called Red Lights. BUT that's no reason to turn the Valhalla into commercial offices. Come on! That place was a mecca in the 90's. I saw almost all the good films there - Naked Lunch, Barton Fink and Delicatessen for a start.

I'd like to provide some proper history on the closure of indie cinemas in Sydney over the years, but that will require some research and I haven't really gotten around to doing any of that yet. Plus there were some significant closures that happened when I was a bit too young to remember, like the Regent on the corner of Bathurst & George Sts. Now replaced by a revolting tower block and crap arse shops at the base. Hence, the promise of an 'Independent Cinema Closures - Part II'. 

Stay tuned.

Patricia Piccinini's Related Individuals at Roslyn Oxley9

Alerted by a favourable review in the SMH, I set out the see the infamous Roslyn Oxley9 gallery for myself, sans the witch of the hour, Bill Henson. Piccinini's work in this exhibition is right up my alley. All about the blurry line between human and animal and the idea of empathising with what we regard as 'other'. 

I had a sneaky poke of a couple of the works, Doubting Thomas and The Long Awaited, to see what they felt like. Latexy is the answer, but that alone doesn't really convey how the attention to detail, such as hair and skin discolouration, conspired to create such lifelike fantastical creatures both human and non.

The Long Awaited can be yours for a respectable $220,000.

More on the topic of Ice Cream Sandwiches

I don't think it's possible to consume too many Monaco Bars. As mentioned in a previous post, they are both yummy and delicious. But don't let your devotion to the Monaco Bar blind you to the charms of other ice cream sandwiches. I am not talking about the hugely disappointing Maxibon, which is stupidly named and stupidly constructed. Nay, I speak of an ice cream sandwich that is totally worth tracking down - Pat and Stick's. So fucken good. So far I have only discovered them in two locations, the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington and The Carlton Deli in Glebe, but there is a list of stockists on the website and apparently they turn up at farmer's markets too.

The Pat and Stick's ice cream sandwich comes in a selection of yummo flavours: Vanilla Lace, Vanilla Choc (Monaco Baresque), Caramel Pecan, Choclate Lace, Double Chocolate, Espresso Lace, Mochaccino and Strawberry Choc Chip.

Need any more encouragement to try a Pat and Stick's ice cream sandwich? Well, I don't know what to tell ya.

* Oh, and all appetising pics have been er, borrowed from the Pat and Stick's website. Thanks guys!

Freaking Out Bob Carr and Drinking Nudies

Gosh, I'm a natural with politicians. I attended the Voiceless Awards night at The Mint last week. All the usual suspects were there - Malcolm Caulfield, Katrina Sharman, Angela Radich, Stephen Lee, Rasha Skybey, John Mancy, Nick Patrick, Brian Sherman, Ondine Sherman and Maryland Wilson. The tight-knit group that is the Australian animal rights law community, and some of my favourite people. We stood around before the awards bit kicked off, drinking Nudies and chatting about live exports and kangaroo culling. You know, normal party conversation.

Hugo Weaving is the Voiceless spokesperson/mascot, so he hung around looking unshaven and famous and discharged his duties by shaking hands with the awards recipients.

After the awards were handed out Bob Carr launched the new Voiceless report From Nest to Nugget. His speech was impressive and he spoke of the 'killer facts' in the report that ultimately win the animal rights debate. Some time after that I was waiting outside for MBH to pick me up when Bob Carr sauntered outside to wait for his driver. I said 'Good speech Bob' but I didn't expect him to come over and strike up a conversation. Unfortunately, I immediately developed a bad case of blathermouth and said many, many irrelevant, embarrassing and downright weirdy things. He looked deeply relieved when his carr (geddit?) arrived and he sprinted into it and off into the night.