Art in Melbourne

10:00 Showing of 'Toy Story 3'

I had seen Toy Story 3 before but I wanted to catch it again to double check a few things. Toy Story 3 is a beautiful movie, which would easily be in my top ten movies of all time. In Toy Story 3 a mix-up occurs where the toys decide to go to Sunnyside Daycare Centre believing that Andy no longer wants them. Woody bids them adieu, stating that he belongs to Andy, and starts to head home but finds out that Sunnyside is a despotic camp and heads back to try to rescue his friends. Wonderful animation, excellent heros and villains and a great story line, that is all that is needed.

But the way Pixar pulls the story off is astronomical. Real seat gripping action, terrific humour, and a final scene that is so beautiful, and so emotional, that makes me weep just thinking about it, and boy, I was bawling during the movie. And then a beautiful closing sequence during the credits to leave everyone on a high.

I'm not quite sure why the movie had such an emotional impact on me; but perhaps it brings back the heart-wrenching scenes of giving away my own toys; or going back to a time when everything was simple.

I think interrealm from www.imdb.com has a good point saying "that we all have very real and deep connections to our childhoods and to the things and people that allowed us as kids to be free, and innocent, and pure, and most importantly, to dream."

To have 'You've got a friend in me' sang in Spanish as the credits role as Buzz and Jessie dance made a beautiful end. The song alone brings smiles but the pictures bring laughter.


13:00 'The Real Inspector Hound' by Tom Stoppard

Reading and Rereading, trying to learn lines, over Belgium waffles and coffee. Relating them to Toy Story. "If we examine this more closely, and I think close examination is the least tribute that this play deserves ... the author has given us - yes, I will go so far - he has given us the human condition".


16:00 Tim Burton Exhibition at ACMI

This exhibition was amazing. Hundreds of Tim's drawings from childhood to adulthood, drawings for fun, by doodling, for books, for movies. Some pictures seemed to me a cross between Babbette Cole's illustrations in her 'Trouble With' books and Terry Denton's cartoons. Wonderful drawings, some of them would instantly make me smile when I saw them, they conveyed such happiness. Sadly I wasn't allowed to take any photos, and the ones that made me smile are not in the Exhibition Book. Most of the exhibition wasn't in the Exhibition Book, and I would probably advise people not to buy it. But the Exhibition was great. I loved seeing models for monsters and for movies that I had seen. Movies like Betelgeuse, Ed Wood and Edward Scissor hands which I hadn't seen for decades. The exhibition was almost like a trip down memory lane.


19:00 Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Melbourne University students put on JC, and did a lovely performance. It was easy to understand and enjoyable to watch - what more does any one want. A nice simple set, having a female Cassius worked nicely, I found it interesting that the director had claimed that it had been modernised, but I didn't think so - I thought that it was a good classical performance.


"To infinity and beyond!" - Buzz Lightyear