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

May you live in interesting times.

May you live in interesting times.

In my 28 years of life I have voted in three different Federal Electorates; Chisholm, McEwen and Scullin. In the senate I have voted above the line and below the line at times. I have voted for the Liberals, the Labor Party, the Greens and Independents. And each election I have watched the count and gone to bed knowing who is governing my country.

And now…

We have a hung Federal Parliament. We have four independents Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie. A Green in Melbourne and WA National Tony Crook. No one knows who will form government but it is interesting that all the Former National/Country party people are saying that Braodband is an important area, along with Health and Education.

Listening to Tony, Rob and Bob on election night, on The Press Club, and through the media over the past week I am very impressed with all of their performances. And I find myself partly dismayed with the performance of certain sections of the media.

I do not agree with all of their views, but I admire the way that they have carried out their proceedings over the past days.

I do not agree with all of Bob Katter’s views, but I take offence at the media painting Mr Katter as an alien, or an American cowboy with no insight or understanding of Australia. Having friends in the country, working on farms whilst trying to survive I know that there are different issues facing country Australia than the issues here in Melbourne and I admire Bob Katter for being able to speak for country Australia and being able to highlight these issues despite persecution. Especially as the National Party, the Labor Party and the Liberal party have been ignoring country Australia for decades.

Reading Emma Rodgers article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/30/2996808.htm the National Party is meeting in Canberra to consider what they will demand in a Coalition government. Why didn’t they do this before? Why don’t they do this every three years?

On a similar topic I like Rob Oakeshott’s idea of a Unity Government, one where members of parliament, all 150, all work together for the betterment of Australia. I would wholly support my member of parliament, the honourable member for Chisholm supporting such a government. Can I please also be the first to nominate Rob Oakeshott for Prime Minister so that we can move forwards with real action.





"If it's up to me, then the gong goes to whoever's going to give us the right to survive and I couldn't care less whether they're the Labor Party, the Liberal Party or the callithumpian mongoloid party." - Bob Katter

A week ago a Google search shows about 500 results for Callithumpian Mongoloid Party, a search now shows about 1280 results.

Winter Reading

Books and Stories:

Chinese Folktales by Howard Giskin

Hell to Heaven by Kylie Chan

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Twitterature by Alexander Aciman & Emmett Rensin

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Mythology


Plays:

The Mousetrap and Selected Plays by Agatha Christie
(And Then There Were None, Appointment With Death, The Hollow, The Mousetrap)

Weekend by Matthew Lambert

The Last Days by Manuel Casha

Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Plays by Tom Stoppard
(The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth)


Re-read:

Four books by Kylie Chan
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde

And one hundred more

Coffee in Sorrento. This was a nice comfortable looking place, a wood fire, nice sandwiches, sadly the coffee was not the best...

... so I walked down the street and had this Hot Chocolate...

... whilst sitting outside looking down the main street.

Then in Preston at the Greek cake shop.

At the Otway Fly

Max's at Melbourne Central - nice, but I think I enjoy the chocolate more than the taste of the coffee. Licking all the chocolate off the cup. As you can see, near the handle there is a lip, if you are not careful, this lip fills up with liquid and as you drink, the liquid goes all over your hand. I have worked out how to drink without this happening, but I think I should test my method a few more times.

In Marysville. Nice coffee, apart from a little bit of burnt milk - which is crime that should be punishable by death. In the background is George's long black.

Bought in Lonsdale Street, near Russell in a nice cake shop. Photo taken on car roof in the car park under the Arts Centre.

In Dad's favorite cafe in Knox City on the ground floor near the fruit shop.

At the same place on a differnt day, on a different coloured table.

One Hundred Coffees

This is my one hundredth post and what better thing is there to blog about than coffee? It was been a while since my last coffee update so this is what I have been drinking... For some reason I can only upload ten pictures, so here we go...

Cappuccino at Howlong - in NSW near Albury-Wodonga. The coffee cup in the background belongs to Lletna's mum.

In Doncaster Shopping Town. A very very good coffee. I can not remember the name of the shop. Something like "Coffee Hit" near Coles on the ground floor.

At the Melbourne Concert Hall in EQ.

In Carlton at the expensive place underneath the cinema.



Another one from "Caffeine" in Swanston Street - this one with a white lid.

Actors drinking beer with a coffee - Photo by Erin Voth.

That coffee was bought from a place just round the corner from Brunswick Arts called Serena Coffee on Hope Street. Beautiful coffee. I don't know if this is one that I drank or someone else.

Brunetti in Carlton

This was supposed to be a Chocolate Thinkshake but for some reason it is a Strawberry Milkshake.

Benalla

A pizza place in Apollo Bay. One of the two coffees I drunk in two days travel from Melbourne to Cape Otway to Colac to Home.

Short and sweet

It is sometimes the simplest comments that make people smile:

"My wife likes to say that she is not weird, it is the "normal" people out there that are in fact the weird ones" - Steve

Three Posts Around Acting

I have a bad habit of drafting posts and then never putting them up. This is a long one, which started as three posts but have similar themes, through written rather badly. They focus on Snatches, two nights of short plays and Candle Ends, a four night festival of word performance held at Brunswick Arts. Though I have split it up into further parts.



Part 1.1: Initial Thoughts.

D and I were watching Glee and at the end D said ‘How weird’. But I thought that that episode wasn’t all that weird. There was a story which had themes and ideas which provoke thought. The characters had to sing a song that described them, yet they sang songs about others, their fathers, their partners, which led me to think that we define ourselves by our relationships. I am A’s son. B’s Partner. C’s dad. This means that when you are in a relationship you can feel more culturally acceptable, when you are not in a relationship you can feel on the outer fringes of society.



Part 1.2: Snatches.

The 11th year of Snatches has just finished and I enjoyed it. I entered thinking I would just do one thing but then fell into a few. On Wednesday I performed in ‘I am a Mac’, ‘Celebrity Lover’, ‘Form and Substance’ and ‘Bonding’. On Friday I performed in ‘Seven Jewish Children’, and re-performed ‘I am a Mac’ and ‘Bonding’.

But I had more fun than some other nights and I think it is partly because I felt that I acted better. ‘Bonding’ on the Friday was so much fun, and to hear the laughter was beautiful. Afterwards I had a great time talking to everyone over a few drinks. I shall miss C and M when they go overseas. I will have to try and visit them.

I liked the performances of ‘Poem’ and ‘Did You Ever Stay Curled in a Ball’ on Wednesday and ‘Tell Them I Said Something’ and ‘Bucket’ on Friday.

I didn’t realise until I arrived at the theatre on Friday that Jack and I were going to do ‘Bonding’ again, and I started stressing. I hadn’t read the script for a couple of days, so I had to read the script a few times backstage whilst busily biting my nails off. The play before us was ‘Tell Them I Said Something’ (TTISS), and I had no idea how long it would go for and as I stood watching going through my lines and actions in my head I became immensely engrossed in the play. I was laughing and totally forgot my worries and that I was going on staged. I loved TTISS.



Part 2.1: Rehearsing for ‘Salome’ - Death

Every picture has a thousand words. Pictures and words, words and pictures. Pictures invoke words and words invoke pictures. Rehearsing ‘Salome’ I am being haunted by a picture. My lines are:

Jokanaan: Get thee behind me! I hear in the palace the beatings of the wings of the angel of death.

Herod: There is an icy wind, and I hear … wherefore do I hear in the air this beating of wings? Ah! One might fancy a bird, a huge black bird that hovers over the terrace. Why can I not see it, this bird? The beat of its wings is terrible. The breath of the wind of its wings is terrible. It is a chill wind.

Herod: I tell you there is a wind that blows … And I hear in the air something that is like the beating of wings, like the beating of vast wings. Do you not hear it?

And these passages make me think of the scenes in the comic Sandman the episode called “The Sound of Her Wings”, Death and her brother feeding pigeons.

I like Neil Gaiman’s death, she is happy and through the stories I think that she is portrayed as more than death, but the circle of life, or the wheel of reincarnation. Of cause Terry Pratchett has a great death as well. I have to get these images out of my head or I will start smiling when I say ‘the sound of the wings of the Angle of death’.

NOTE: ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ is a song by Tom Lehrer



Part 3.1: After Candle Ends Driving North

Sitting at Wallan Wallan thinking… Sometimes I just want to drive on for ever, through Wodonga, Yass, Sydney, Brisbane, for ever travelling. A journey of healing, thinking, singing corny songs, only stopping to read, sleep and drink.

I’ve seen a bit of theatre lately, or through Candle Ends and it makes you think. Or you chose to think.



Part 3.2: First Date – A Physical Theatre performance by Penny.

Penny’s (from ‘Born in a Taxi’) performance, her facial expressions and her physical struggle to pull words out of her mouth, made me think that ‘yes that is exactly how uncomfortable and difficult interpersonal interactions’ can be. And this month has been difficult for me. At the moment I would love to hide. And in a way that might be what I am doing here.



Part 3.3: Edward Albee’s ‘Zoo Story’

Colin was wonderful as Jerry in Albee’s ‘Zoo Story’, which also spoke about interactions. It was a wonderful performance, both funny and thought provoking. Colin was wonderfully believable as a man down on his luck and had us as the audience in the palm of his hand. Though I have seen it five times I am finding it difficult to recall my thoughts and can only recall the interesting line “I’ll try to kill him with kindness, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll just kill him”.

But I do remember thinking that we show love and interact with others using a whole range of emotions, love, hate and indifference. “But if such a loss, can be called a gain” and that it is partially through our interactions we define our selves. “With a cockroach, with a carpet, with god … and perhaps one day with a human.”

I have really enjoyed my time with M,M,A,T,E,C,et al, but I have not interacted that much. I have not been ready, but I think of them as great friendly people.



Part 3.4: Thoughts

“You cant say ‘A dog I know’ without sounding suss” – from ‘Zoo Story’ by Edward Albee

“To espresso or to Latte, that is the Question, whether ‘tis tastier on the palette to choose white mocha over plain, or take a cup to go, or a mug to stay, or extra cream, or have nothing, and by opposing the endless choice end one’s heartache, to froth, to sprinkle, perchance to drink.” – from ‘Something Rotten’ by Jasper Fforde

Lady Jumping Flea who sings bittersweetly, Ali G, whose audience participation was hilarious and so very clever. Poems from M and M,

I think I may be tired.

“Perchance to dream” – from ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare

“I’ve been to the zoo.” – from ‘Zoo Story’ by Edward Albee

Must get a copy of A’s lizard-chicken story

Talking with Peter and Erin, I love Erin’s I believe poem: “I believe in too much coffee and books, both to be shard with friends, unexpected guests.”

I’ve run out of three pens writing this.

I’m beginning doubt my acting ability. I’ve always known that I’m not brilliant. But lately I’ve been stuffing up too much in a variety of ways. I thought that Bonding was great and thought that I might have rediscovered something. But I thought that something went wrong with Salome and LLareggub, which is a shame as they are two of the most beautiful bits of poetry I have acted in. To perform, do I need to find a story that fits me, or do I need to change to fit a story? I wonder where I can take acting workshops.

My coffee is almost finished. I have to think about hitting the road again. It’s interesting driving under these conditions. The sky is misty with light spitting rain. Everything is ever so dark. If there is a car ahead you use their tail lights to read the road and if not you stick to the side, your headlights following the curves of the road. Mo moon and stars to light the way, cars either overtake or sit behind you, using you as their guide.