For The Love of a Small Dog

What the fuck is wrong with Dymocks at Broadway?

2010-05-03T18:25:00.001+10:00

Gosh, how times have changed. It's been quite a while since I last browsed the Dymocks at Broadway. Once upon a time, that wondrous space (in the old Grace Bros building, now Broadway Shopping Centre) was home to a very classy Collins book store. It had an intra-store Gloria Jeans and as many uni students working behind the counter as you could poke a stick at. They knew what you were talking about when you asked for a particular author or title, the range of books and categories was exemplary and as a consequence shopping there was a very pleasant experience.

A few years later I wandered in for a browse to find the shelves almost completely bare, even though the doors were open for business. Bugger. Bankruptcy. In its place, after some time, came a Dymocks. Oh well, I thought. Its a great space, they are bound to treat this as a second flag ship store. But no, no, no this was not to be the case. On the rare occasions I browsed there I found the staff to be only a fraction short of hostile and not at all short of ignorant and the layout and range of books hopelessly compromised.

But until my visit today (to spend a gift voucher), I haven't had an occasion to visit any other Dymocks stores for a very long time, but I can't imagine that their business model could have changed so radically. I never saw them as anything more than a suburban chain store, selling a pretty limited selection of titles, but this! The visual merchandising is appalling. Books are laid out on bargain tables, the shelves are dishevelled, everything is muddled together with racks of tacky knick-knacks and worst of all some sale items and subject categories are marked with badly hand scribbled labels on plain paper sticky-taped to the shelf.

So many questions, so few answers on the website. Doesn't the Dymocks franchise owner provide standard maroon and white signage for the stores? Are other Dymocks stores now like this? Who owns the Dymocks Broadway franchise/store? And what the fuck are they thinking???

Long live Gleebooks, Better Read Than Dead, Elizabeth's, Ariel & Berkelouw I say!

The Ark Project aka Fabulous But Unnecessary Purchases Part 1

2009-12-06T17:50:00.001+11:00

Actually, the 'Part 1' in the title of this post is a little misleading. There are just so many unnecessary purchases in my past, and like past lovers, so easily forgotten when something newer and shinier comes along ...

A few weeks ago I wondered into Mag Nation on King Street, Newtown. My attention was immediately drawn to a fantastic illustrated book/magazine, 'Ark: an Illustrated Animal Bible'. So cool. The idea behind the Ark Project, as the name suggests, is to gather animals from all over the world and 'save' them in the Illustrated Animal Bible. More than 200 illustrators/artists contributed to the book, each providing an illustration of an animal from their part of the world. Australian contributors include Christopher Nielson, Nior, Monaux, Rinzen, Jeremyville, Drew Funk, Cupco and Ghostpatrol.

This afternoon I cracked and muttering something to MBH ran out and bought The Ark book. I just know this time it'll last.

Melissa Shoes

2009-11-26T23:36:00.005+11:00

Attention! Attention! We at FTLOASD have a truly exciting discovery to report! Just this evening I have stumbled upon the wonderous loveliness of Melissa Shoes*. How I could have lived in ignorance of these divine shoe-beings is completely beyond my comprehension. I think its best if I just show you some purty pictures (borrowed with thanks from Fat4 and some other site) and some mouth-watering video.

The shoes above were done in collaboration with practically the only fashion designer I actually like, Vivienne Westwood.

Watching the video is imperative.

Chicka-bow-wow!

* the truly madly deeply fabulous thing about Melissa shoes is ... nothing had to die to make them. Sure, some petrochemicals were inconvenienced but its a great result overall. Yay for that!

Two Thousand and I Don't Think So

2009-11-24T23:43:00.004+11:00

Ordinarily I would start a film review post with a spoiler alert, but honestly, the only thing that would "spoil" your enjoyment of 2012 is if you paid money to see it. Luckily, one of my besties paid for my ticket, so the only thing I lost out on was those 2+ hours of my life that I'll never get back.

We saw a preview for the new suped up, hollywoodified Sherlock Holmes movie. On the plus side Robert Downey Jr plays Holmes. On the very, very, very minus side that movie ruiner Jude Law plays Watson. On balance Law sucks more than Downey Jr shines, so I shan't be writing a review of Sherlock Holmes any time soon.

Back to 2012. The lameness begins in the first scene when we meet Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a geological scientist, watching the earth's core bubbling up through a manhole in India. The plot gets less plausible from this point. Woody Harrelson plays a hillbilly conspiracy theorist maddy and John Cusack, who I'm sure we all agree is a lovely chap, plays the unlikely hero who has been thrown into the eye of the catastrophe movie storm.

The plot goes like this: bigger than usual sun spots are superheating the earth's core and causing the earth's crust to break up. Along comes Adrian Helmsley with an urgent report for one of the US government's top men. For some reason they take him seriously straight away and start building big ships in China. Meanwhile, John Cusack takes his kids camping at Yellowstone and runs into Woody Harrelson, which is bad enough, but Woody's character turns out to be a plot device and tells John about the fate of the planet and that the go'ment is trying to cover it all up. John Cusack decides the best course of action is to round up the family and head to China! What else? Danny Glover plays the President, who goes down with his ship/country and there is a pointless side story about John's character being a writer. Yawn. It's the other annoying touches that really finished 2012 off for me, like one of the characters is a British scientist who wears a lab coat and walks with a limp and a cane. Cliched much? Anyway, they all get on the boats, run into the Himilayas and a month later the earth has reconfigured itself and they all sail off into the sunset.

There are annoying kiddies, dull heart felt moments and the most unbelievable plot since Roland Emmerich's last crockbuster. He also directed 10,000BC, The Day After Tomorrow, The Patriot, Godzilla, Independence Day and Stargate. I haven't seen 10,000BC or The Patriot but as with the rest of Emmerich's films you really don't need to. Having said that, I really quite liked The Day After Tomorrow but I may have been distracted by that dishy Jake Gyllenhaal. There are touches of The Poseidon Adventure and every other disaster movie I've ever seen, and basically its The Day After Tomorrow all over again but with fire instead of ice.

My friend and I exchanged "this movie really sucks' " several times during 2012. And for anyone who has seen it, the line "no more pull-ups" had me retching into my handbag. Recommended for ... well no one!

Further Shiny Objects (to line my nest)

2009-11-11T23:47:00.000+11:00

I bought a totally shmick-oh new compact digital camera last week. It's the top of the range digital compact from Fuji. It's got all kinds of fanciness that I don't really understand and couldn't be bothered explaining, so instead here's a picture. Shiny.

The Greatest Show on Earth (Episode 3)

2009-11-11T23:31:00.002+11:00

Apologies for the delay in posting my response to last week's episode of ALTL. Things have been moving pretty fast around here since MBH went back to work. In fact Episode 4 has whizzed by without me even watching it, which is lucky 'cause I'm over ALTL now. The delicious cringe value has turned to pity and that ain't no fun.

Here are the basic notes I jotted down from Episode 3:

Young Kelly made an impression this week with her proud assertion that "by the end of the night I've drunk myself stupid and I'm either abusing someone or chucking up in a gutter".

Some of the cutaways are witty. Jessica is told to turn to Mrs Shrager or Mrs Harbord if she gets nervous mc'ing the fashion show. Cut to a rather mad and severe looking Mrs Harbord. Titter.

Shiny Objects

2009-11-01T00:30:00.002+11:00

Here is something pretty I'd like to get my mits on:

This is the La Sorrentina coffee maker, a reproduction of the Atomic Coffee Maker imported into Australia by the Bon Trading Co from the 60's to the 80's. According to the Bon Trading website the Atomic is still being made, but it is the opinion of some that none have been produced since the factory in Milan burnt down many years ago. Apparently, "new" Atomics are usually cheap knockoffs made in India and lack the quality and attention to detail of the genuine machine. Who knows the truth? Certainly not me. I have had my eye on the La Sorrentina, which is a licensed reproduction but still costs about 450 bucks, which ain't as much as the second hand Atomics!

After much agonising about whether to invest in such a lovely shiny thing I decided not to make the purchase. This is rare for me. MBH calls it having "a bee in my bonnet" but sometimes when such an objay has taken my attention I find it virtually impossible to resist. Somehow, this time I decided on a com-pro-mise and bought a perfectly lovely Bialetti Moka Express instead. Octagonal-y. As you can see, the Bialetti is no slouch in the lovely shiny thing stakes either:

Coffee anyone?

Sydney Cafe Vegetarian Delights

2009-10-30T23:14:00.004+11:00

Lately, MBH and I have been checking out a few new cafes hoping to find a couple of cool new spots with good coffee and a decent range of vego options. What we already know is that Kelby's in Marrickville does a great poached eggs with dukkah, sweet potato and fetta, Sideways Cafe in Dulwich Hill does great corn fritters with baby spinach, haloumi and some kind of yummo relish plus the loveliest home made cakes ever, Big Brekky in Petersham does good coffee (but always slow to arrive) and scrambled eggs, Post Cafe in Marrickville offers a very good toasted turkish sandwich with goats cheese, thinly sliced roast pumpkin, baby spinach and sun dried tomato paste, Cinque in Newtown does good pea, mint and haloumi fritters and of course the incomparable italian hot chocolate, Sonoma in Glebe does fantastic coffee and mixed berry muffins, Campos in Newtown is just for a really bloody good coffee, le Petit Creme in Darlinghurst is good for crepe suzette and frites and Kazbah in Balmain is good for porridge with fruit compote, sweet couscous and vegie tagines.

All solid options, but I'm always looking for something new to add to my reportoire of vegetarian cafe goodness. Enter this recent Timeout article:

http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/restaurants/sydneysbestfood/sydneys-top-breakfasts.aspx

I've already been to Kazbah, Marigold and Baffi & Mo and I don't plan to visit Bondi or Balmoral any time soon in my searching, so we decided to try Clipper Cafe in Glebe and Bang Bang in Surry Hills. We visited Clipper Cafe on a Saturday morning before popping into the Glebe Record Fair and the joint was jumping. We sat at the end of a long bench seat with the other patrons. The service was friendly and fast and the home made baked beans with poached eggs were tasty but far too salty for me. The decor was pleasant, with white walls, a long wooden bench along one side and stools and high tables on the other side. High up on the opposite wall from where we sat were two bicycles and some retro objays (including an Atomic coffee machine) on shelves. We will certainly return.

The following weekend we met a friend for brunch at BangBang in Surry Hills. There were middle aged hipsters reading the SMH and younger hipsters not reading the SMH and the same bench style seating as Clipper Cafe. We wedged ourselves in next to the older hipsters and ordered our coffees. I had primarily wanted to brunch at BangBang for the promise of Welsh rarebit, which I have nevered tried before. I was curious and ready to have my taste buds blown off. It was ok but not all that I expected. BangBang is kind of an upmarket greasy spoon and therefore is rather meaty. Don't know if we'll be back as I don't have much reason to be in Surry Hills on a weekend morning.

The Greatest Show on Earth (Episode 2)

2009-10-27T22:54:00.004+11:00

Oh what a night for reality tv. I must divulge straight away that my favourite moment tonight was Kerryn exclaiming "I just jizzed in me pants" when the girls were told they had a chance to take part in a vintage car motor rally. For me, the expression discloses genuine enthusiasm. I'll have to find a way to use "I just jizzed in me pants" in general conversation like our Kerryn. Even though she hasn't captured much air time yet I feel her star is on the rise.

Other ALTL highlights included the nudist bogan Shari's massive turn around mid-episode. She went from marauding harridan to submissive suck-arse so fast it's almost enough to make her parents sit up and take notice. And who knew a real lady would never open her own car door? Goodness! I have been getting it wrong all these years and I'm sure MBH will be thrilled to know there is yet one more way he can cater to my femininity. So how does it work if I'm driving by myself? Should I park near a good supply of men in the hopes that one will release me from the car? And what do the rules say about climbing out the window? Gosh, ettiquette is a tricky business.

I thought the ladettes would wait till at least week 3 to fall in a tragic heap in Mrs Shrager's arms but tonight not one but two ladettes, Jessica and Kaila were drawn into the bosomosphere, blubbing in their dreadful flat accents about their sad past and hopes for a better future.

Poor Samantha got the flick tonight, and for what? For being a bit hopeless at shelling 4000 quail eggs in half an hour, so a bunch of chinless twats can have a post-rally picnic under ominous British storm clouds, that's what. They always get rid of the frumps early on. No doubt just another predictable tweaking of the reality tv world. But still. Based on lady-like-ish-ness (or the lack of) I reckon that sullen cow Donnelle should have copped it tonight for sure. Waddaya reckon readers? ... readers?

Au revoir Samantha!

Aussie Ladette to Lady is on at 9:30pm Tuesdays on Channel 9.

Thinking Outside the Bottle

2009-10-25T20:07:00.009+11:00

I tried to reference The Australian article of the same name. Max Allen wrote it for the Food & Wine section of The Weekend Australian, 3-4 October 2009. But do you think I could find it online to link to this blog post? Nahhhhhhhhhh. I may as well plagarise, since apparently The Australian couldn't be bothered posting this article to its website, but I can't be bothered so I'll just say it's about cool wine labels. Not just cool wine labels, of the type designed to attract young 20 something drinkers, but cool wine labels that are backed up by decent wines. I decided to try some of the bottles mentioned, just to make sure the wines were decent chop.

I've tasted the Ad Hoc Wallflower Riesling and The Killer Pinot Grigio but have yet to lay hands on Mother's Milk by First Drop or Monsters, Monsters Attack by Some Young Punks. The Some Young Punks Website is quite annoying with its applets and suchlike, but with names like The Squid's Fist, Double Love Trouble, Drink'n'Stick, Naked on Roller Skates, Quickie!, The Fire In Her Eyes and Passion Has Red Lips I've gotta get my hands on some.

By the way, Ad Hoc Wallflower Riesling and The Killer Pinot Grigio are heartily recommended. Both can be purchased at Dan Murphy's.

The Greatest Show on Earth (Episode 1)

2009-10-23T21:25:00.007+11:00

I am, of course, refering to Aussie Ladette to Lady. That show has everything - slappers, loud-mouthed old school marms, well heeled inbred toffs, and everyone displaying appalling behaviour from go to whoa. Don't you just love it when a show simultaneously holds a mirror up to the boganity it exploits while showing up the equally crass, judgmental and class-driven snobbery of the supposed arbiters of decency and good behaviour? I do. And the even greater truth is that I, the viewer, revel in every minute of it.

Season two brings us a fresh crop of hard-drinking, hard-living young women all intent on outdoing each other's "ladette" behaviour. The stand out ladette for me as of the first episode is Shari, for whom "clothes just get in the way of a good time". For some reason, despite some pretty off colour behaviour, Shari made it through for another week of televisual humiliation. Perhaps they've recognised that a girl like Shari makes for good television. Or am I being cynical? Letisha got the boot on the first episode so we won't get a chance to plumb the depths of her bogan psyche. Jessica is another stand out ladette, but for my money I reckon Kerryn will bring home the pearl earrings. The rest are a mix of extrovert teens and early twenty somethings, mere episode padding fodder. And of course, Mrs Brewer, Mrs Harbord and Mrs Shrager bellow their way around Eggelston Hall, accusing the girls of being " disgusting sluts". Now that's finishing school!

Check out this link for more info on the girls:

http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/aussieladettetolady/ladettes/

I'm taking bets on which ladette will be first to crumple against the ample bosom of Mrs Shrager, sobbing about the terrible life she has led so far and how desperately she wants to turn it all around. I think we'll see some action of this sort by episode 3, episode 4 at the absolute latest.

Also, an honourable mention for whoever best describes the animal Mrs Harbord looks most like.

7th Annual Sydney Vintage Show

2009-10-22T22:05:00.006+11:00

I made the trip to Canterbury Race Course last weekend to check out the vintage show. I picked up a gold glomesh coin purse for 15 bucks but apart from that I probably wouldn't have felt I got my $12 entry fee worth if I hadn't made a rather intriguing discovery. It turns out that one of my favourite characters about town, Jeff from Mitchell Road Auctions (Pic 1) is in fact moonlighting as Dame Edna Everidge (Pic 2).

Pic 1 - Jeff onsite at Mitchell Road Auction Centre

Pic 2 - "Dame Edna" at the Vintage Show

I waited what seemed an age for him to notice me standing demurely off to the side as he falsettoed his way through a number of bon mots with passers by. I had remarked to my companion a few moments earlier: "Wait til he sees me" and she looked through a nearby clothes rack as time passed and my confidence slowly wilted. Oh Christ, I thought, please notice me, this is getting embarrassing! Finally, Jeff/Edna turned in my direction and without pause he exclaimed: "What are you doing here?" Phew! Anyway, we chatted a while and he kept up the falsetto admirably well. My vocal chords were starting to ache in sympathy. I hope he survived the day.

By Popular Demand ...

2009-10-21T00:05:00.008+11:00

Due to *ahem* overwhelming demand I am going to provide a couple of vague and unhelpful movie reviews, mainly because most films I see go in one eye and out the other. Anyhoo, here I go.

Inglourious Basterds

Brad Pitt doing a weird accent. Nazis. Thuggish jews with baseball bats. A vengeful cinema owner and much, much more. The real star of IB was the guy who played Colonel Landa. What a menacing prick he was. Recommended.

District 9

We ended up seeing District 9 'cause our friends got tickets first, then the session proceeded to sell out, then our friends gave us their tickets. What bloody superstars! Thanks Lala & Mark. It was a very entertaining flick, with what Margaret and David call a "predictable narrative arc" but nevertheless it makes my recommended list simply for being set in Jo'berg replete with cool, freaky SA accents and names like Wikas.

The September Issue

Anna Wintour is nothing but a stone cold bitch, and don't let this documentary lead you to believe anything different. She is THE woman responsible for bringing fur back into fashion. Enough said. The true hero of this doco is Grace Coddington, the fashion editor at Vogue. It is obvious she has serious artist talent. Heaven knows why she wastes her vast artist energies on fashion.

$9.99

We took TBC to a Reel Mums session at Dendy Newtown. We missed $9.99 at the Sydney Film Festival this year so I was glad to see it got a cinematic release. I was primarily curious to watch $9.99 as its a Sherman Production, as in the Sherman family who fund the animal rights charity Voiceless. Emile Sherman runs the film production business that has produced such Australian films as Candy, Rabbit Proof Fence and more recently Disgrace. Plus I'm also a sucker for claymation. There was an a-list cast of Australians voicing the characters - Geoffrey Rush, Anthony Lapaglia, Claudia Karvan, Joel Edgerton and a few others I can't remember right now. I enjoyed the film but felt the stories didn't intersect terribly well and relied on being set in the same apartment building.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

See previous posting for a review of Anvil! Recommended.

Up

I'm not just a sucker for claymation but pretty much all animation, so seeing the new Pixar flick was never in doubt. Great animation with astounding attention to detail, amusing dialogue and characters produced a very good film. Margaret and David also loved it. Definitely not just a kids film as so many would assume. Also, there was a cool little short at the start of the movie about clouds making babies and storks delivering them. Cute.

Julie & Julia

J & J didn't really appeal to me but Mum asked if I would take her to see it and I had a two for one deal for Palace Norton St cinemas after becoming a member, so I thought what the hay (or hey? ... hmmm). J & J was mostly light and fluffy and fun, but Amy Adams' character was annoying and Meryl Streep's performance had to carry the film. Which it did. Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

Moon

I was looking forward to seeing Moon. It looked very suspenseful and I thought I knew how the characters and plot would turn out, but was pleasantly surprised that the 'narrative arc' took another turn altogether. I won't reveal the details as it is a film worth seeing, but I can say Kevin Spacey's onboard computer GERTY didn't turn out to be as menacing as I had assumed. And I expected more suspense but the characters were not left in the dark as is usual in a sci-fi thriller.
It is important to note that Sam Rockwell is a hotty.

What was with Sam's vision of the woman? I didn't understand that.

Movie Madness

2009-10-19T01:12:00.005+11:00

Perhaps surprisingly, I've been getting out to the movies quite regularly since the arrival of The Bear Cub (henceforth known as TBC). In fact, since 27 July I have seen 8 films at the cinema, not to mention lots of trashy telly:

Inglourious Basterds (25 August)

District 9 (1 September)

The September Issue (15 September)

$9.99 (17 September)

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (22 September)

Up! (29 September)

Julie & Julia (12 October)

Moon (13 October)

That's roughly a film a week and a half or so. I achieved this glorious feat through a combination of (1) the use of babysitters - 3 times; (2) leaving TBC home with MBH - 4 times; and (3) taking TBC with us to a baby friendly film screening, in this case Reel Mums at the Dendy Newtown. Bloody good invention these baby friendly film screenings. Variously called Reel Mums, Babes in Arms and Mums & Bubs, these screenings allow you to take your Squalling Little Monster to the movies with other mums and SLMs without fear of the stern looks and head shaking that come with public social disapproval. TBC was pretty good, but it wouldn't have mattered if she wasn't 'cause other bubs were piping up at various times during the film. The volume (of the screening not the babies) was loud enough to be heard without being too loud for the babies to sleep.

Nick Cave Exhibition

2009-10-19T00:09:00.005+11:00

We visited Canberra last week, mainly to attend the birthday dinner of one of MBH's good friends. The rest of the time we mostly caught up with family but did also manage to see the Nick Cave Exhibition at the National Library. I remember the first time I heard 'Deanna' and 'The Mercy Seat'. I immediately knew that this man was the coolest of the cool and I went out and bought 'Tender Prey', the Birthday Party album with 'Shiver' on it and subsequently 'Let Love In' and 'Henry's Dream'. I saw Nick Cave perform 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' at the Big Day Out with Kylie Minogue some time in the '90s, I watched his cameo performance in 'Johnny Suede' and I've even read 'And The Ass Saw The Angel'. But after many years as an unquestioning Nick Cave fan something just happened. I suppose I just started to lose interest over time after being saturated by his prolific talent. And frankly, the Kylie duet didn't help. What a sell out.

Nevertheless, I was interested in the exhibition and I'm very glad we went along. For me, the most interesting part was a book from Mr Cave's personal collection of Louis Wain illustrations, the artist known for anthropomorphic cats. Nick is a big fan and collected lots of Louis Wain originals over the years. Wain's illustrations are very recognisable and supposedly show the deterioration of his mental health.

The Nick Cave exhibition is on at the National Library until 29 November 2009.

Reusable Goodness

2009-10-16T18:47:00.005+11:00

You know how the planet is slowing filling up with eon-slow degrading, wildlife choking, river polluting plastic? Somehow we humans managed to get in the habit of buying drinks and lots of other products in disposable containers and bottles. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a horrifying culmination of this penchant of ours. But what to do? I much prefer to drink my coffees from takeaway containers with those cool sippy lids and water is much more portable when carried in plastic bottles rather than in the palm of your hand.

Luckily, I have recently happened across a couple of funky little products that are dead cool and incidentally rather enviro conscious. The first one is the fabulouso Aussie made (another bit of brilliance to come out of Melbourne) KeepCup. I can bearly wrap my head around the coolness and cleverness of the KeepCup ... it's a re-usable takeaway coffee cup complete with sippy lid (virtually essential to coffee drinking enjoyment, I think you'll agree), moveable plug and silicone band so you can customise your coffee order. You do this by filling in your choice with a permanent marker. This means I can order my ridiculous Large Weak Soy Decaf Latte with 2 sugars without having to even open my mouth.

KeepCups come in an ever increasing range of colour combinations and three industry standard sizes (small, medium & large). This is what mine looks like: http://www.keepcupstore.com/servlet/the-22/KeepCup-MED-F/Detail

The KeepCup idea is just so bloody clever I didn't even blink when I laid eyes on the Cheeki stainless steel bottle. We don't usually buy water in plastic bottles as MBH has an understandable aversion to paying for water, and I recently read that its not such a good idea to reuse plastic bottles because chemicals can leech out of the plastic as they begin to degrade. We took our Cheekis on a roadtrip this week and they have definitely come up a winner. So far I have spotted them at pharmacies and health food shops.

LwkSyDeL+2

2009-09-21T19:59:00.004+10:00

Yes, yes, yes. It's about time I was posting on my blog again.

Here's one. See that title up there? What do you think it means? The chemical formula for fabric softener perhaps? Nope. Perhaps my name translated into Cyrillic? Wrong again. In fact it's my coffee order.

LwkSyDeL+2 = large weak soy decaf latte with two sugars.

That's me. Ridiculous? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.

What's your coffee order?

The Boat That Sucked and Si-nek-duh-kee, New York

2009-05-25T10:29:00.008+10:00

I can't remember if I have mentioned my love of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (PSH) in previous posts. Well, anyway, now you know. I have followed him and his rising career since at least 'Happiness' and 'Magnolia'. I don't recall thinking 'oh look, the defining actor of his generation' when I saw him first in 'Twister' as a madcap tornado chaser, but he certainly hasn't disappointed me since. Until now.

MBH and I had quite a few hours between checking out of the hostel and boarding our flight home on a recent trip to Melbourne. The weather was appalling and I was coming down with a bug so we decided to take shelter in a cinema. There wasn't much to choose from so we ended up seeing 'The Boat That Rocked' by default. Man, that movie really sucked. I think it was the combination of my disappointment at seeing PSH lowering himself to such an ignoble role, further disappointment at seeing one of my favourite British comedians, Nick Frost, being just plain not funny, the inclusion of that scrawny, talentless, sleaze-bag Rhys Ifans AND the all pervasive chauvanism of every aspect of the bloody film!

But it was more than that. Holistically, TBTR really, really sucked. AND I felt personally insulted at the inclusion of a character called Marianne just so, when the love story inevitably failed, they had a feeble excuse to play 'So Long, Marianne' by Leonard Cohen. Sigh.

It was with much higher hopes that MBH and I took ourselves off to see 'Synecdoche (pron. si-nek-duh-kee) New York'. It seems they've really let Charlie Kaufman off the leash this time. I have greatly enjoyed his previous works - 'Being John Malkovich', 'Adaptation' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Actually, I didn't enjoy 'Human Nature' but that might have been the presence of that scrawny weasel Rhys Ifans.

S,NY was a very interesting film in that it was unashamedly profound in it's subject matter and seemed to be an exercise in trying to draw something real out of an artistic medium. It is possible to try too hard to achieve such lofty goals though. I'm not saying the film was not effective as an exposition of the ultimate realisation of disappointment about life. As each character ages they are one by one confronted by the inescapable fact of death, a fact which drains them of their character. Pretty much everyone dies. I was left feeling that Kaufman's emphasis on futility and sadness drew us too far away from what is real about life, at least for me.

I recommend you see 'Synecdoche, New York' and decide for yourself.

Arresting Bumper Stickers - Part II

2009-04-11T09:45:00.012+10:00

It is my quest to find the bumper stickers that (a) rock your world; (b) make you think; and/or (c) make you laugh. Bearing this in mind, please take a moment to peruse the following ...

This one is a little bit difficult to read, as the photo was taken with my camera phone, through the front windscreen of the car, but it says "I'm polluting your air". How refreshingly honest, I thought to myself. A 4wd driver who publicly acknowledges the impact they're having on the environment. Then I noticed the bottom line of the sticker, in smaller print, http://www.nosuv.org/ which reminded me of a plan some friends and I had years ago of having anti-4wd stickers printed up. We planned to have them printed on the stickiest of sticky, lurid coloured paper using the most powerful glues known to humanity, and then we were going to do 'missions' under cover of darkness to sticker 4wd vehicles. We had some fantastic slogans. If only I could remember them ... But, how wonderful that the subject 4wd driver obviously hadn't noticed the sticker by the time I took the photo. I wonder how long it had been there ?

I couldn't help but warm to the owner of these bumper stickers, reminding me of a short documentary film I saw last year called 'Rare Chicken Rescue' about a man suffering depression whose one passion in life is finding and caring for exotic chickens.

In case you can't read the stickers in the picture, the chook related ones read as follows (from left to right):

DUCK in & have a GANDER, We'll talk CHOOK! http://www.backyardpoultry.com/
Backyard Poultry, More than just a hobby, http://www.backyardpoultry.com/
SHIT HAPPENS, My chooks make it useful! (accompanied by a cartoon of a chook ... er, shitting)Chook MAGNET, http://www.backyardpoultry.com/
DON'T FOLLOW ME, I'm going to a chook show!

I can report that our car currently boasts two bumper stickers, one rather subtle white text on a clear background for FBI fm and the second, a rather less subtle black bumper sticker with white graphics and text promoting Sea Shepherd. MBH recently tried to make the addition of a Collingwood 'Side by Side' Member 2009 sticker. I'm not ashamed to admit I fake cried to avoid that one.

New PETA video

2009-03-19T15:38:00.002+11:00

The new anti-fur video, with the voices of Pink and Ricky Gervais.

What kind of person steals a guy's coat?

Learn more at petadishoom.com.

Mickey and Loki

2009-02-24T15:00:00.007+11:00

Sadly, Mickey Rourke missed out on an Oscar for his performance in The Wrestler last night, but this lovely little article in the UK Telegraph puts it all in perspective. Mickey's beloved chihuahua Loki died 6 days ago after 18 years as "the love of his life". He would have traded the Oscar for more time with Loki, which just goes to show that Mickey Rourke is one of the few hollywood actors with his head screwed on straight.

Mickey Rourke, For The Love of a Small Dog salutes you.

I Heart Havaianas

2009-02-18T12:08:00.005+11:00

It's not like I'm getting paid to tell you of my love for Havaianas thongs. I heart them so much I'm plugging them for free. A few old pairs have been deployed to the charity bin, but I've still got 7 awesome pairs left ... and I need more. And Havaianas are even more awesome than I originally thought. I just checked their website and it seems they support the WSPA and Animal Liberation.

If you sign up to be a supporter of Animal Liberation, you get a free pair of Havaianas. Helping free animals from cruelty AND becoming the proud owner of super cool thong-wear, gratis? Wow! Clamber to sign up here: http://www.animal-lib.org.au/freethongs/

Corvette Stingray

2009-02-07T14:47:00.000+11:00

Some lucky, lucky, lucky bastard of a banker owns this gorgeous car ... we spotted it parked in a St George parking spot in the underground parking at MBH's building.

2008 Movie Roundup

2009-02-05T12:02:00.011+11:00

A little overdue, but better late than never and all that ...

My Top Movies of 2008

1. Grindhouse

Just see it. Seriously. I don't remember the last time I was so deeply and satisfyingly entertained in the cinema (or anywhere else for that matter - boom tish!). Technically, Grindhouse was released in 2007 but we caught it at the Chauvel Paddington really late in the season, around Australia Day '08.

Grindhouse comprises two films, complete with faux trailers for other grindhouse style films that I really hope get made. The first, 'Planet Terror' was directed by Roger Rodriguez and the second, 'Death Proof' was directed by the schlock man himself, Quentin Tarantino. Rodriguez and Tarantino's last effort at collaborating produced the fairly dreadful 'From Dusk Till Dawn', but don't let that put you off. Even if you're not really a Tarantino and/or Rodriguez fan I would still encourage you to check out Grindhouse. As a homage to the drive-in trash movies of the 70's and early 80's, Grindhouse simply blows them all away!

Planet Terror is your standard Hero Stripper Fights The Evil Zombies with a touch of Government Experiment Goes Catastrophically Wrong. You know that old chestnut. Performances from Rose "Cherry Darling" McGowan, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis and many others were so f*cked up and hilarious, this one really needs to be seen to be believed.

Death Proof follows in Kill Bill's footsteps (sort of) by casting amazing, strong, arse-kicking female leads. You can really tell how much Tarantino adores and is in awe of women ... in his own unique and exploitative way. I don't remember seeing Kurt Russell ever play the baddie before, and he does a truly nasty and convincing job in this role. Rose McGowan makes another appearance here, but not quite as an arse-kicking hero type.

I enjoyed Death Proof so much I had to hand over the car keys to MBH for the trip home 'cause I knew there was a good chance I'd wanna pull off some pretty fun driving stunts ... see it for yourself, you'll see what I mean.

I'm waiting for Grindhouse to be released as a box set, currently only available as separate dvds and I'm not sure if the additional trailers are included on the indivdual releases. With titles like "Machete", "Thanksgiving", "Werewolf Women of the SS" and "Don't!" you need to see the trailers to get the full "grindhouse" experience. You can tell they had a lot of fun coming up with the trailers, tongue firming in cheek.

See Grindhouse. You have no choice.

2. Anvil! The Story of Anvil

We saw this at the Metro Theatre as part of the Sydney Film Festival, and Anvil! is easily the best rock doco, if not the best doco, I've ever seen. Better than Metallica: Some Kind of Monster which pretty much set the standard a few years ago. Anvil! follows the struggles of the Canadian metal band of the same name to keep rocking and hopefully one day break the big time, 30 years on. Anvil influenced bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, but for some reason never really made it themselves. As Lars Ulrich puts it "maybe it's because they're Canadian".

The meat of the story is the relationship between the lead singer "Lips" Kudrow and his guitarist and childhood friend Robb Reiner. They fight and hug there way through a failed tour of Europe and recording their 13th studio album. Anvil! reeks of Spinal Tap, but somehow you get the feeling these guys are the real deal.

Criminally, Anvil! didn't get a cinematic release in Australia, however it has been released on dvd. I urge you to see it.

Check out the preview on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DT7v2nUcmek

3. King of Kong

Another doco that deserves a big recommendation is the fantastic, hilarious King of Kong. King of Kong takes us into the unexpected and inexplicably long-lived world of the arcade gamer. These guys who were in their late teens when classic games like Donkey Kong, Q*bert and Pac Man were released still hang out together, play games together and hold championships together. I know. Totally lame.

Their world is turned upside down when an 'outsider' submits the video tape of his top Donkey Kong score to the people who decide on the world rankings of such things. King of Kong is a classic story of good versus evil, and the weird part is I found myself really caring about what happened.

Definitely see this one, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shake your fist at the injustice.

Other Movies of 2008

Please note, I make it a rule never to recommend a movie that I rated less than 4 stars.

Here is a list of my four star rated, and therefore recommended movies for 2008:

Juno - everyone liked this movie
Gone Baby Gone - directed by Ben Affleck, pretty disturbing in parts
Choke - another highlight from the Sydney Film Festival
The Dark Knight - hate to jump on the bandwagon here, but Heath rocked this movie
Wall-e - clever and funny critique of modern, consumer society
Man On Wire - see previous post for a review

***

3.5 Stars

I also saw these films at the cinema in 2008, but cannot recommend them as previously stated 'cause they didn't make the four star cut:

I'm Not There - Some kind of Bob Dylan life story re-telling *yawn*
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - lots of red paint
Ironman - I always like a bit of Robert Downey Jr
The Innocents - an old Deborah Kerr "gothic horror" as part of the Sydney Film Festival Deborah Kerr retrospective
The Savages - love Phillip Seymour Hoffman & Laura Linney, hate slow moving melodramas
Not Quite Hollywood - worth seeing for the interview with Quentin Tarantino, that man is a freak, but I'm still not a fan of so-called 'ozploitation' films
Tropic Thunder - I can't go past a Ben Stiller film, but it probably could have waited for the dvd release
You, The Living - subtitled Swedish film directed by Roy Andersson, rather slow moving as subtitled Swedish films tend to be
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - directed by Guillermo del Toro, lots of fantasy fun, no need to follow the plot
Burn After Reading - Brad Pitt was great in this film and I expected to rate the newest Coen Bros higher, but here we are ...

***

3 Stars

Now we're getting into the really ordinary stuff.

Death at a Funeral - directed by Frank Oz
Lust, Caution - there was only one interesting scene in this film
Be Kind Rewind - directed by Michel Gondry with the cuteness of Mos Def
Lars and the Real Girl - unbelievable and therefore ultimately bad
Happy Go Lucky - directed by Mike Leigh, Scott the driving instructor was good
The Wackness - *yawn*
In Bruges - not sure why this film got such good reviews
Fear(s) in the Dark - comprised of short, animated nightmarish stories in black and white
Married Life - Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams all upstaged by the gorgeous art deco set design and costuming
Persepolis - adapted from an Iranian graphic novel
Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden - on reflection, I should have rated this doco much lower
Animals in Love - we got free tickets to this doco about animals courting and having sex
Twilight - oh man, this sucked!
The Day The Earth Stood Still - enviro conscious remake with Keanu as Klaatu, sure why not?

***

2.5 Stars

Dredging the bottom of the barrel now ...

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer - every time a character opened their mouth I cringed further into my seat

***

2 Stars

Deeply embarrassing to admit I paid money to see ...

The House Bunny - see previous post for a review of this dreadful pap

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

2008-12-22T16:26:00.002+11:00

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

2008-12-11T16:24:00.007+11:00

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

2008-12-11T12:37:00.008+11:00

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

2008-12-07T17:13:00.003+11:00

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.

Freaking Out Bob Carr and Drinking Nudies

2008-12-01T16:16:00.006+11:00

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.

For The Love Of A Two-Faced Kitten ?

2008-11-21T11:12:00.004+11:00

Yesterday a two-faced kitten was born in Perth (see above, in case you didn't already notice). Apparently it eats out of only one mouth but meows out of both simultaneously. What a plucky little blighter!! (or blighters).

The second most interesting thing about this event is that the vet nurse who assisted in the delivery of the kitten remarked "I have seen cats with two tails and extra legs, but not this." Apparently Perth, WA is the place to be for feline deformities.

Come On Spring, Do Your Thing

2008-11-20T15:22:00.004+11:00

Don't you just love spring? Yeah, I know it's been happening for a couple of months now but I look forward to seeing the Jacaranda in flower all winter long, and when the purple rain begins, well it's a thing of magic. But spare a thought for the equally glorious Illawarra Flame Tree, a tree which has the temerity to loose all its leaves and flower bright red every spring. I have decided that I love the flame tree and all her red flaming beauty.

Here is a picture.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Fundraiser

2008-11-19T22:16:00.006+11:00

MBH and I attended the Sea Shepherd fundraiser at the Argyle Hotel last night. We were drawn by the promise of hearing the great man, Captain Paul Watson, speak of his experiences protecting marine life since the late 1960's. Cpt. Watson was one of the founding members of Greenpeace, although he now criticises the organisation for wasting money on advertising campaigns and trying to get more money, and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in 1977. All Sea Shepherd funding is used directly to protect marine life.

The mission statement of the SSCS is to "end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations."

Sea Shepherd's operations are expensive, hence the fundraising event. It costs $13,000 per day to run an anti-whaling boat, even though the boats are crewed by volunteers. Years ago they had trouble attracting volunteers but now they receive more than 500 applications from volunteer crew members for each mission. I guess I'm not the only one to fantasise about running away to join Sea Shepherd and become an "eco-terrorist".

Cpt. Watson emphasised in his speech that despite media hyperbole to the contrary, the SSCS are an organisation that advocates non-violent intervention. I was talking to a friend about this issue today. He had heard that Sea Shepherd was responsible for pouring acid on the deck of a whaling ship, which apparently was widely reported by the media. What they did do was lob spoiled butter (aka butyric acid) onto the deck, which causes it to become slippery and therefore difficult to walk on.

Cpt. Watson spoke eloquently and compassionately about his decades of work protecting whales, sharks and seals. He spoke of the cries of pain made by a whale when it is harpooned. He also spoke of the moment of profound understanding he shared with a male sperm whale that was harpooned in the skull as it breached the water to protect a female from the same pod who had also been harpooned.

There is a wealth of fascinating information on the Sea Shepherd website, including the fact that a sperm whale's brain size is 9000 cubic centimetres (the largest on the planet), much bigger than the human brain at a pathetic 1300 cubic centimetres.

Just Another (Ku)brick in the Wall

2008-11-16T23:43:00.003+11:00

Welcome to Stanley Kubrick week on SBS!

The schedule is as follows:

Sunday, 16 November, 9:35pm - 2001: Space Odyssey (1968)

Tuesday, 18 November, 11:40pm - Lolita (1962)

Wednesday, 19 November, 10:30pm - Barry Lyndon (1975)

Thursday, 20 November, 10:05pm - The Shining (1980)

Friday, 21 Nobember, 10:00pm - A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Saturday, 22 November 10:00pm - Full Metal Jacket (1987)

I haven't seen Lolita, Barry Lyndon or Full Metal Jacket, so I'm looking forward to a full week ahead of Kubricky old favourites and new surprises.

Thank God that bloody awful Eyes Wide Shut isn't making an appearance!

The Monaco Bar is Baaaa-ack!

2008-11-15T18:15:00.007+11:00

Looks like all our hard work has paid off. Some time ago I forwarded an online petition around to all my nearest and dearest to encourage "them" to bring the Monaco Bar back. Well, last night MBH and were at home watching a dvd on the sofa when we decided it would be a great idea to visit the corner shop for an icecream or some other delicious treat. I was just about to go with ole faithful (the Magnum Ego) when MBH casually mentioned that the freezer cabinet also contained ..... Monaco Bars!!

Luckily I bought two for myself because when we got back home we both stood at the front door, each assuming that the other one had brought the house key. Locked out! So we wound up at the pub waiting for one of our flatties to get home. Still, it was totally worth it.

Oh, how I had grieved them all these years! Monaco Bars were my out and out favourite ice cream when I was a child/adolescent and now I get to enjoy them all over again.

In summary, Monaco Bars. Yum.

* Please note, the top two pics are borrowed from the "A Table For Two" blogsite.

Arresting Bumper Stickers - Part I

2008-11-10T20:44:00.007+11:00

Are bumper stickers a window into the soul? I like to imagine the type of person that belongs to a particular bumper sticker, and why they chose to say that particular thing about themselves and/or their interests for the world to see. Stickers like 'I fish and I vote' don't tend to arouse too much interest, nor the ubiquitous 'Your Rights At Work' campaign stickers. They are simply too common and too broad. Unions and lobby groups send those kind out and sometimes the members use them. End of story from my perspective. Although, I still remember the time I saw an Energy Australia car parked in Centennial Park sporting a sticker reading 'I Work and I Vote', which was nicely counterpointed by the 'worker' sleeping soundly within the vehicle. As one of my friends said, 'I Nap And I Vote' doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Another time I was stopped behind a van in traffic and noticed with mounting delight a full array of animal rights bumper stickers pretty much all over the back doors and window of the van. First I saw an Animals Australia sticker: 'Live Export: Indefensible' and Animal Lib's 'Ban Battery Cages' and the Animal Lib logo sticker, plus lots more that I am well acquainted with along the meat-is-murder lines and the oft-seen Greenpeace sticker. When the lights changed I attempted to drive up next to their passenger window so I could offer some acknowledgement of kinship. I don't really know what I was going to do, and I was spared the decision when they turned right ahead of me and out of my life.

Other bumper stickers grab my attention for entirely different reasons. The picture, above, illustrates a perfect example of that 'other' kind of bumper sticker. The kind that makes me feel that if I met the owner of sticker at a dinner party it would be a decidedly uncomfortable situation. There might even be tension and hostility if alcohol had already sufficiently disinhibited us before we met. Having said that, I'd love to meet the owner of this particular bumper sticker. The sticker's savage poetry intrigued me. When I first saw it I even wondered where such a thing could be bought!

I've never quite had the brass monkeys to put a bumper sticker on my own vehicle. The boring reason is they cause uneven fading on the duco and the more convincing one is the thought that everyone will think I'm a maddie. And who could possibly stop at one sticker? All too hard, which is why my ride has always been sans sticker.

Man on Wire Entertains Woman in Cinema

2008-11-10T14:07:00.004+11:00

After a short, hot, crowded shuffle through the stalls of the Newtown Festival on Sunday we were ready to escape to the cool, dark confines of the Dendy cinema to watch 'Man On Wire'. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but knew that the doco received unanimously good reviews from critics and won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at Cannes.

No wonder it was such an entertaining experience. Previously, I had carried a vague smudge of memory around that someone a long, long time ago walked between the Twin Towers, but I had never for a minute stopped to consider the beauty and magnitude of such an act.

Much of the documentary focused on the planning and preparations for "the coup" which eventuated on August 7, 1974 (a bit more than 3 months after I was born). Phillipe Petit (the wire walker) relied heavily on his circle of friends, and for the final act on a small number of ring-ins, to achieve such an amazing feat. All the main players were interviewed 27 years on, and they all appear to recall the events with perfect clarity and a depth of emotion. Petit's retelling of the events was hilarious and deeply engaging, however the real hero of the piece emerges as we discover that the practical planning behind the wire walk was masterminded by Petit's close friend Jean-Louis Blondeau. I don't want to ruin the rest of the story other than to say that the viewer is left with a somewhat tarnished admiration for Petit, but admiration nevertheless.

One interesting fact about Phillipe Petit's high wire antics that I had not known prior to seeing the film is that Petit walked suspended between the northern pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973. The old footage of the Bridge is pure gold and reason enough to see the film.

Rocket! Ye-eah!

2008-11-05T21:21:00.005+11:00

It all started because of My Name Is Earl. If you have watched the show you may already know that one of Earl's personality traits is his love of Def Leppard. In one episode he punctuates a particularly defensive soliloquy with 'You can all pour some sugar on that!'. At that moment, something stirred within me. Something from the deep, dark recesses of time. The 80's. It all came flooding back to me after being forgotten for so long.

As it turns out, I love Def Leppard.

I expressed my rediscovered love by buying a copy of 'Hysteria' on special at JB Hi Fi. My original copy is on vinyl, and well-worn I can assure you. As MBH says, Hysteria has been on high rotation in the car for at least a year and he groans a weary groan when he hears the first bars of 'Women'. Poor thing. But it was his idea to get tickets for their concert all those months ago when he saw they were touring oz. At first I thought it was taking the 80's nostalgia thing a bit too far at 99 bucks a ticket, but I changed my mind pretty quick which is why we found ourselves at the Acer Arena on Wednesday, 5th November on a mild summery evening.

The Galvatrons were up first and not bad, although they were dwarfed by all the amps and speakers on stage for Cheap Trick and Def Leppard. Cheap Trick were up next and it seems they still know how to crank it after all these years. I sang along heartily to 'The Flame' and MBH seemed to know the rest of their stuff quite well.

By the time Cheap Trick had wound up their set I felt like we'd already seen a full show, but I was grossly mistaken. When DL hit the stage everyone went mad. They played Rocket first, then Animal, followed by some songs from their new album (a brave choice). The sound was pumping, the screens alternated between rockin' clips and close ups of the performers. And they're not in back shape for 50 year old men. My goodness, that lead guitarist is as buff and well built as a 20 year old lumber jack!

I looked the lead guitarist up on Wiki when we got home and I can now tell you that his name is Phil Collen, he's from East London, has been with the band since 1982 and he's a vegetarian. He's even done some work for PETA. Who knew I could love them even more?!?

I only got a couple of photos 'cause my mobile was running out of batteries and I had hoped to video 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' but I only got a few seconds before the batteries completely died. Not to worry, it was a small glitch in an otherwise perfect evening. I danced and sang my way through PSSOM and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Now that I have seen Def Leppard in concert I can unashamedly say 3 things:

(1) They rock.

(2) I own a Def Leppard t-shirt.

(3) The drummer really does only have one arm.

Come back soon guys!

Sydney Open 2008

2008-11-04T17:11:00.002+11:00

A friend invited me to the Sydney Open a couple of years ago and I thought she was talking about the tennis. It turns out the Sydney Open is in fact a city discover tour of historically and architecturally significant buildings in and around Sydney, run by the Historic Houses Trust (HHT). The Open is on every second year and it ran for the seventh time in 2008. Tops.

The Tank Stream tour sold out in the blink of an eye, so MBH got us City Pass tickets instead which gave us access to 70 buildings for the day (2 November 2008). We agreed to try and get around to about 14 properties but we only managed 11 by the end of the day, mainly due to queueing and sore feet. We made our choices by prioritising Art Deco buildings and discounted buildings that we already knew well such as St Marys Cathedral or buildings that could be easily accessed in ordinary circumstances like the Commonwealth Bank at Martin Place.

* Please note, much of the text below is unashamedly lifted from the Sydney Open 2008 guidebook.

1. AMP Building

Our first stop was the AMP building on Albert Street at Circular Quay, reputable due to its status as Australia's first skyscraper, built in 1962. We waited for at least half an hour in the queue, as they were only allowing one group of 15 up at a time. When we arrived at level 26 we were shown around a rather plush and retro style board room and then out onto the viewing platform to take some photos. Some shots of the view above.

2. BMA House

BMA House, built in 1928-1930, on Macquarie Street was designed by the inter-war architects Fowell and McConnel in an Art Deco style, an early Sydney skyscraper embellished with medieval and Gothic decoration. Todd Hall was the meeting hall and lecture theatre for the British Medical Association until 1979. Yawn.

3. City Mutual Building

Another Art Deco building on Hunter Street, the City Mutual Building was designed by Emil Sodersten and built in 1934-36. City Mutual was the first private office building in Sydney to be air conditioned. We were allowed to access Level 2 and found a lovely, wood panelled board room with funky little deco kitchenette and bathroom. Otherwise a bit underwhelming, although I've always admired City Mutual from the street. It would have been better if greater access to the building was allowed.

4. Deutsche Bank Place

MBH took one look at the glass lifts on the outside wall of the building and decided to sit this one out. I jumped in a lift up to Level 28 reception where I saw a fantastic collection of modern art, presumably owned by some overpriced law firm or other. The views were pretty good too, and they should be since Deutsche stands at the highest point of the Sydney CBD. I caught one of the lifts facing the outside of the building on the way back down and couldn't suppress my nervous laughter as we plumetted every so smoothly to the ground. You can ride these lifts any time and I highly recommend it!

5. AWA Building

Another big queue at this one and we were told to expect a 45 minute wait. Some people ditched the queue, but we persisted. As far as opens go this was a good one. We got to climb up to the base of the tower (see pic). Amalgamated Wireless Australia head office building, built in 1939, was the tallest structure in Sydney for decades. Not surprisingly, the AWA Building is covered by a Permanent Conservation Order.

A fact that the guide doesn't mention but one that quite a lot of Sydneysiders know is that the AWA Tower makes an appearance in The Matrix. Cool or what?

6. Westpac Bank

I wasn't expecting much from the old Bank of New South Wales headquarters, but the Westpac Bank building on George Street, built 1927-1932, was a treasure trove of interesting little snippets about 'the olden days' of banking. For instance, all bank employees used to armed with a gun and there even used to be a rifle range on the roof for target practice. How banking has changed!

The building itself is impressive, like many other bank flagships of the time, highly decorated with vast high ceilings. The safe deposit vault was open and we wandered around imagining all the jewels and passports and share certificates that must be contained within each inconspicious little box. There were many mirrors in the room, confirming my suspicion that many expensive jewels are imprisoned here.

7. Architectus

We weren't intending to visit Architechus but we ended up in the lift at the Bank and arrived on level 3 somewhat bemused, but curious. Apparently we weren't the first group to visit by accident. As we stepped out of the lift, a volunteer politely asked us whether we knew where we were. MBH said "not reallt, but we're here now!" in a very cheerful and that seemed to assauge her concern. What we saw was a very bloody funky open plan office, the kind you would expect a firm of architects to inhabit. The office has an enviable view of Martin Place.

8. National Mutual Building

After Architectus, we trotted over the road to the National Mutual Building. Built 1891-1895 and restored 1984-1986, this one was designed by Edward Raht in an early romaneque style. Its central feature is a central light well and grand staircase, topped by a stained glass ceiling. Check it out next time you pass 348-352 George Street.

9. The Castlereagh Boutique Hotel - NSW Masonic Club

Yet another Art Deco building, the hotel on Castlereagh Street was built in 1927 and designed by Claude William Chambers. I found it rather charming, but there were a few too many framed portraits of the Queen for my liking.

10. The Great Synagogue

Situated on Elizabeth Street, built in 1878 and designed by Thomas Rowe, the Great Synagogue is a composite of Romanesque and Byzantine influences with Gothic detailing. The best bit was MBH wearing a yamika (not sure of the correct spelling).

11. Sydney Water Head Office

This, the final building on our list, had a sizable queue at the entrance. Come on! We waited in a grumpy and tired way, but not as grumpy and tired as the weirdy looking guy behind us obviously was! He alternated between complaining out loud about the queue and pressing himself into my back in a most non-personal space respecting way. When one of the volunteers offered an extra space in the group ahead of us I offered him up immediately from the group. We were much better off without the angry and possibly mad vibe he was exuding. When it was our turn we were treated to a grand example of the horrible things people did to beautiful buildings in the 1960's. They even chopped the main entrance in half horizontally to stick more office space in at some point. Goodness!

We were escorted around the corridors of level 7, which had a creepy, haunted hospital kind of ambience. Our guide, a Sydney Water employee (of many years I'm guessing) enthusiastically showed us into the men's toilets so we could see the Art Deco urinals. No, really! I took a photo but my heart wasn't really in it, exhausted as I was by the end of the day.

Live Triumphantly

2008-10-29T10:45:00.003+11:00

Feel like living triumphantly? You may want to consider moving to the new 'Trio' apartments in the City Quarter. According to the website: "Trio is boldly individual, yet part of something greater". Would that be the 5,000 or so other apartments already crammed into the old Children's Hospital site in Camperdown?

So what does the luxurious, yet sterile Trio "complex" have to offer its inhabitants? Again, according to the website: "Trio's closest pool will be glorious. At 50m in length with an infinity edge down one side over which water gently tumbles it will be the perfect relaxation spot." I wonder if they're talking about the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre in Ultimo?

On a related note, has anyone ever read the JG Ballard book 'Highrise'? For some reason, the Trio building enlivens this book in my mind.

What I would really like to know is what kind of human being is attracted to spend money on a marketing campaign that asks you to 'live triumphantly'. Comments most welcome...

The Burlesque Hour@Spiegeltent

2008-10-26T20:53:00.006+11:00

It was with excitement and anticipation that we queued up for The Burlesque Hour at the Spiegeltent in the Opera House forecourt on Saturday evening. We rushed in and secured our seats near the stage (thankfully, not too near the stage as it turned out). Things started off bemusingly with Maude Davey stepping onto the stage in a long, black gown bearing a bowl of strawberries. She walked deliberately and seductively through the audience offering strawberries to audience members before introducing the show. The next performance, by Yumi Umiumare dressed as a school girl, was a frenzied explosion of underwear and energy. Next entered my favourite performer of the evening, Azaria Universe wearing a white body stocking and balancing on a Swiss ball.

Moira Finucane's performances were highly strung, sexual, menacing and ironic all at the same time and she has a penchant for using liquid in her performances, red sauce and milk in vast quantities. Although by the time she performed her dance of the many balloons I had warmed to her naughty, horror movie monster stage presence.

However, my favourite performances were both by the marvellous Azaria Universe. Her trapese work, executed while wearing tight elastics on her arms, legs and trunk (which made her look like a very feminine Michelin Man) was compelling. And her naked-except-for-300-strings-of-pearls rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart was hysterical AND moving.

Check it out for yourself. The Spiegeltent season is sold out, but the Burlesque Hour will be returning to the Opera House Studio Theatre in January 2009:

http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/theburlesquehour09.aspx

And yes, there is nudity.

Sculpture By The Sea

2008-10-26T20:28:00.008+11:00

I invited MDM and MBH to Sculpture By The Sea this weekend. For some reason I misremembered that the exhibition ran from Bondi to Coogee. Finally, I'd have an excuse to catch the 370 bus! I happily endured the 60 odd minutes wending our way through Newtown, Alexandria, Rosebury and Kensington enroute to Coogee. I was a little surprised to note that there were no sculptures immediately in view. Must be just around the northern headland, I thought to myself. It turns out I miscalculated the start (or end) of the exhibition by five beaches (Coogee, Gordon's Bay, Clovelly, Bronte, Tamarama). Still, I haven't ventured to the beach for ages and it was all very Morrissey walking through Waverley Cemetery on a sunny afternoon. MDM was quite a slow walker, and one who required many rest stops, so we didn't see a sculpture until we had been walking for about an hour or more.

We rested briefly at Tamarama before forging into the throng of sculpture spotters. It was very difficult to take a photograph of a sculpture sans little kids crawling over it, but my impatient muttering was rewarded with a few human-less shots. Overall, the standard was good, but I was more interested in re-hydration than art by the time we reached Bondi. Art works that feature animals are always of interest of me, so I enjoyed the dogs roaming the hillside at Tamarama.

Perhaps another visit is in order during the week, in the hope that the crowds will be thinner.

Post-Bourgeois

2008-10-15T22:49:00.007+11:00

Yep, that's me. Well, that's me according to Lisa Pryor of the SMH. She used her fancy words to paint a picture of someone quite like me anyway.

Here are some of the tell-tale signs:

1. Your career does not yield a particularly high income but required years of tertiary study (legal aid lawyer, academic, journalist).

Yep.

2. Your holidays feature expensive air fares and cheap accommodation. You think spending $80 flying to the Gold Coast then $1200 staying at Palazzo Versace would be a gauche waste. Spending $1200 flying to Cambodia then $80 on guest house accommodation for the entire trip makes complete sense.

Hey, show me a cheap flight to Cambodia and I'll take it!

3. You have taken the bourgeois anxiety about discussing money to an extreme. Not only do you think it is naff to talk about money, you think it is naff to care about it at all. Even though your love of beachside living and late-night tapas is totally dependent on it. You would be mortified if anyone thought you recycled Christmas wrapping to save money but if they think you recycle it for environmental reasons, that's fine.

It IS naff to care about money!

4. Your tertiary education makes you sceptical about the way the mass media distil complex academic terms into buzzwords and simplify class dynamics into matters of lifestyle, yet you feel drawn to read such tosh when your own milieu is the topic of discussion.

The fact that I'm blogging about the topic is enough evidence really.

But for me, I'd take the idea (or is it ideals) of post-bourgeoisism further. Not only do I not care about money, after completing 2 burn-out inducing degrees I don't care about knowledge either. These days I'm quite happy to sit back and let my friends and colleagues espouse their sound, evidence-based points of view without feeling the need to hold my own position or appear clever. I suppose its a mild form of benign anti-intellectualism, except that I don't feel any hostility towards intellectuals or intellectual pursuits. In fact, all my friends are terribly clever and it causes me no consternation at all. Nor am I coming from the perspective of a religious fundamentalist or authoritarian dictator. I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather bake cupcakes than watch the news.

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

2008-10-15T22:05:00.004+11:00

I've always resisted saying that I like Banksy. It just seems like such a wank. I mean if Angelina Jolie has done it, it's definitely not cool anymore. But my hat well and truly comes off to his new project, an installation work which critiques our exploitation of animals, called The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill. Banksy explores the inherit hypocracy of the human relationship with animals using animatronics in a faux pet store scene. There are animatronic fish fingers swimming in a fish bowl, chicken nuggets pecking at a container of tomato sauce, hot dogs in terrariums, a rabbit applying cosmetics at a mirror, a chimp listening to head phones while watching television and a miserable, old, featherless Tweety-bird in a cage.

Check out The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill online and today's SMH article on Banksy's New York show.

Oh, to be in New York this October!

The World's Smallest Sheep

2008-10-15T20:33:00.007+11:00

MBH and I spent a mad, mad Saturday looking at houses to buy in the inner west. We saw about 13 or 14 houses in a little under 4 hours, and I can confirm that I was driving in a blind rage by the 3rd or 4th last ones. There were lots'n'lots of nice ones we can't afford in places like Glebe, Annandale and Newtown. You know the houses I'm talking about. I felt like I had to wear a tie to impress them (no prizes for correctly guessing the Simpsons reference, just my eternal respect).

By lunchtime MBH and I were back in home territory checking out some terraces on Darling Street. We were meandering back towards the car when my exhausted gaze fell upon an odd looking creature crawling on the footpath. I stooped, and using one of the glossy real estate brochures as a platform lifted it up to have a closer look. At first it looked exactly like a slater than had been (perhaps inadvertantly) spray-painted white. MBH agreed and I got ready to remonstrate righteously along the lines of "I ask you, what kind of person spray paints a slater!" when I realised that the spray paint was in fact a fluffy or woolly looking substance. As carefully as I could manage after a long, hot day of house-hunting I placed the little fella on the palm of my hand and looked even closer. It looked like the world's smallest sheep!

I showed it to some people smoking on their front porch pretty much right where we were standing. The woman said something inane like "That's not natural!" to which I felt like replying "Actually it is natural, which is what makes it's unusual appearance so interesting" but decided that I wanted a coffee and muffin more than I wanted to create an awkward moment with a stranger, so I moved on.

After some online research we discovered that our pasty little friend is a mealy bug. According to the internet they are a pest, but in my opinion they are ridiculous cute! If only someone would cultivate mealy bugs and sell them as pets ...

Accidental Graffiti Find in St Peters

2008-10-09T18:20:00.007+11:00

Ages ago I bought a small series of prints from a vendor at the Glebe Fair. Each one is a simple b&w illustration of a tree and on each tree is a single red leaf. I thought it would be fitting to frame the prints in a thin red lacquered frame to complement the dash of colour in each picture. And I assumed that most framing shops would carry this stock. Not so. Anyway, I searched further afield and spoke to a friendly and helpful man called Paul at Modern Framing in St Peters who found some Marks & Company Red Lacquer No. 107 kicking around in the back room. Yay!

I followed Paul's directions and parked around the back of the shop on May Lane, St Peters. As I stepped out of the car I realised I had inadvertently stepped into graffiti art heaven. The artworks adorning the laneway represented a number of styles, including (my favourite) stencil work and a huge array of very colourful traditional pieces. None of that crappy tagging stuff.

The pictures that follow were taken hurriedly with my camera phone. I hope to return soon and take some better shots.

Henry Beston Quote

2008-10-09T14:30:00.009+11:00

I just received this fantastic quote from one of my animal rights buddies and thought I should share it as widely as possible:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

If you are interested in finding out more about Henry Beston, I have included a link to his Wiki entry: Henry Beston

Unashamed Fan of the twothousand Website

2008-10-08T09:57:00.004+11:00

Just like the title says, I am an unashamed fan of the twothousand website. Twothousand is the online, much cooler version of Timeout magazine. If you're not too cool to admit that you like to keep an eye out for what's cool, then I recommend this site to you. Twothousand describes itself as "a weekly snapshot of Sydney's subculture" and seems to be staffed by a team of cool hunting geniuses (with the exception of the recommendation of Cantina Mexicana as a good place to eat in the Centrepoint food court).

I receive each new issue by email, which includes a 'Cool/Fool' list along the lines of 'What's Hot/What's Not'. On the online version, each page is headed with a seemingly unending supply of funky, clever photographs. I recommend a visit to twothousand for this reason alone, but there are lots of features to hold the reader's interest like the collection of 'mix tapes'.

Thanks to twothousand I've discovered such little gems as Art Meets Matter, Jan Von Holleben (although neither are strictly part of Sydney subculture) and the Sparkle Cupcakery.

Twothousand has a sister publication, based on Melbourne subculture, threethousand. I haven't really checked it out yet, but I will before my next trip to Melbourne.

Goth Nostalgia

2008-10-07T18:37:00.000+11:00

I made my bi-monthly (every two months, rather than twice a month) visit to the Phyzogs Hair Salon today and was unexpectedly sent on a goth nostalgia trip, which provided a nice distraction from the dreadful regrowth i'd been disporting for the last 2 or 3 weeks.

One of the new apprentices, Tracey, is clearly a goth, albiet a mini-goth, or toned-down-at-work goth. I could tell by the heavy silver pendants she wore around her neck, as well as the straight black bob, matching straight black fringe and general goth-like demeanor. As you may have guessed, I am a recovering goth and am therefore never far from plunging back into blissful gothdom at the slightest provocation. Although I don't appear in the least gothic these days, at least not to the untrained eye anyway, there are certain signals that we must emit which betray us to our brethren and sistren. Let's call it Goth-waves.

Tracey and I immediately fell into conversation about the recent Under the Blue Moon Festival (which I forgot to attend). She asked if I liked goth music and I lamely replied along the lines of "er ... yes, but it's all at least 15 years old like The Sisters of Mercy, Ministry and Skinny Puppy" hoping she wouldn't ask me to recall any of my favourite songs.

Apparently, a band called Covenant headlined the festival and everyone "went off" when they played their big song "Call The Ships To Port". I asked if they were like Sisters of Mercy and she told me they represent a new genre called 'dark wave'. I have listened to a bit of Covenant since our conversation and they don't seem to be a million miles away from Sisters of Mercy musically, which is both amusing and rather a relief. More importantly, there was a goth fashion show at Carriageworks. That would have been fantastic! I am an unashamed fan of the downright beauty of goth costume wear.

Our conversation ranged quite widely as I lay at the basin reminiscing about the early to mid 90's. Tracey agonised about whether emo would be the death of goth and I opined that goth has been through at least 4 waves to my knowledge and that it will continue to be reinvented as long as teenagers keep discovering Joy Division and black eyeliner. Tracey seemed unconvinced and suspicious of my assertion that gothism has existed in a prior incarnation. So I didn't bother to talk about the 10 or so years I spent dyeing my hair blue-black or "the good old days" of Soho in the Cross and the time I was just so friggen gothed up that my friend and I were ushered past the waiting queue of wannabes as if we were goth royalty.

Hmmm ... maybe I'm ready for a personal goth revival. Dare I?

Whatever You Do .... Don't See The House Bunny

2008-10-01T23:26:00.001+10:00

Man! What was I thinking? The House Bunny is the perfect example of a film where every single funny scene is used in the preview. Every single one. It wasn't just shallow. It wasn't just boring, badly acted and scripted. The joke that was funny was used over and over until it became rather depressing. HB exuded a form of profound stupidity, so much so that I feel as though I left the cinema with a trail of vapidity in my wake.

On the upside, I genuinely believe that Anna Faris is a talented actress and probably deserves a shot at a role in a better class of film than HB and the deeply dreadful Scary Movie series.

Half a chewed Bunny Ear

Introducing Tinkerbell

2008-10-01T16:37:00.001+10:00

As an integral part of the launch of the Tinky brand worldwide, Tinky must reach you through the medium of blog.

Here is a picture, you lucky, lucky bastards.

Coming Up With A Cool Blog Name

2008-10-01T16:25:00.000+10:00

Let's get all the self-conscious stuff out of the way right now. As soon as I hit 'Create Blog' after choosing 'For The Love of a Small Dog' as my blog title, I came up with a much better one! *sigh*

Be it known that my next blog title will be called 'Be It Known'.