The Brisbane birthday weekend - Part 2

Saturday: A lunch cruise on the river. It sounds a cheesy thing to do but we enjoyed it. Although rain was forecast, the weather remained fine making for a pleasant trip up and down the river. The food was reasonable and plentiful; actually the oysters and prawns were a big hit. I warned Gg to be careful of Rs' intentions that night when they consumed copious quantities of the oysters.

Once the Kookaburra Queen (yes, fitting name in the circumstances) docked we took a walk through the adjacent Botanic Gardens back to the city where we found a venue for drinks through to sunset.

Then it was off to the Casino for more drinks and random gambling. I'm not really into gambling and usually resist but the birthday spirit was in me and I played a bit of Keno and the poker (slot) machines spasmodically. Mt and Ml wisely avoided gambling altogether and kept a table base for us chatting away there whilst the rest of us came and went between gambling moments. Ll, Fd, Gg and Rs all managed jackpots of $100 or more but the birthday boy (yours truly) won zilch. I might as well have simply handed over my money to the Casino and walked out.

Sunday: And the rains came. It poured. We had planned a drive up to the Sunshine Coast and went ahead with that despite the weather. We headed for Mooloolaba and first stop was to the apartment building where Gg and Rs are in the process of buying a holiday apartment. It is in a good location a short walk from the ocean. Then it was on to the Mooloolaba Surf Club for more drinks and lunch. The large dining room filled quickly but local knowledge (ie Gg and Rs) meant we grabbed a terrific table in a corner overlooking the surf and with a view of the beach shower that would have thrilled Tracey Moffat. I enjoyed the sight of beach boys showering down after their surfing and changing (modestly unfortunately) into their casual gear. The persistent showers kept surfing numbers down but there still were a few about.

A long walk along the esplanade followed; that healthy activity balanced by the purchase of ice creams and when heavy rain returned we had the perfect excuse to duck into a nearby cafe for coffees.

Then it was the hour long drive back to Brisbane and a casual dinner of quiche, chicken and salad at Ll's.

Monday: Still raining with the occasional showers of the preceding day replaced by persistent heavy rain. I had arranged to see Rt and Jy on the Gold Coast and took the midday train for the hour long trip down to Helensvale. Rt collected me from the station for the trip to his house. Jy provided a delicious lunch of a hearty vegetable soup topped off with apple pie and chocolate ice cream whilst we chatted and viewed some (thankfully not all) of the 990 photographs they took of their recent visit to England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally St Petersburg in Russia. I returned to Brisbane by train around 7.30pm with heavy rain falling all the way.

Tuesday: Last morning. A big (too big) breakfast and then off to Brisbane Airport where I was offered a seat on a flight one hour earlier than my booked flight which I eagerly accepted. Ironically, that flight then was delayed by thirty minutes but I still arrived home in Sydney marginally ahead of when I was originally scheduled.

The Brisbane birthday weekend

(Image from Tracey Moffat's video 'Heaven')

Thursday: The flight up was uneventful and arrived on time. After dropping my bag off at the hotel I stepped out to purchase birthday gifts for Ll and Fd whose birthdays were also being celebrated over the weekend. Fd works in steam (I don't know what that means either) and it is difficult to choose gifts for him. I took the easy option by picking up a gift voucher from a major Department store chain. Ll, who loves going the Gold Class route at the movies, is an easier proposition and I needed little time deciding to buy Gold Class ticket vouchers as a birthday gift. The Myer Centre cinemas were nearby and I was thinking of Eddy as I queued there for the vouchers. Eddy records his nearly weekly visits to that cinema complex in his blog. It proved to be a bad time to call in as their computer system had crashed leaving dozens of us waiting for about twenty minutes until they could resume selling cinema tickets, drinks, popcorn and the like.

Later, Ll and Mt joined me at the hotel and we set off for drinks followed by a steak meal at a crowded Pineapple Hotel in Kangaroo Point. The servings were generous and the food of reasonable quality but it was a pity all the food was served lukewarm.

Friday: I spent a leisurely morning wandering about the CBD checking out the stores and people in general. I love people watching. I wandered along to City Hall, a lovely old municipal building, which is about to close for extensive repairs and renovations. Despite numerous visits to Brisbane I had never set foot inside the building previously. It contains interesting exhibitions and displays and I roamed about them for an hour.

In the afternoon, Mt, Ll and Ml came into town and we walked across to South Bank and to the Gallery of Modern Art where we took in the China Project exhibition as well as some of the their ongoing displays. One that particularly took my eye was a video by Tracey Moffat. Ms Moffat's video contained surreptitious images of young men changing into and out of their surfing gear in public in car parks adjacent to surf beaches. Now there is a job I would love to have. Photographing naked men in secret. If I did it I would be arrested for voyeurism but Ms Moffat is lucky that she can do it and have it displayed in a mainstream gallery as art.

The four of us then walked back across to the city stopping off at the Casino for daquiris. Later we decided on dinner at Wagamama. Although this chain of eateries has existed in Sydney for years I had never been to one previously. It was pretty good. I ordered a Chilli Chicken Ramen and the others ordered noodle dishes. Unfortunately, Mt - who had made it known that she prefers gluten free meals - was given a bland dish devoid of sauces to give it the lift that the other dishes contained.

Fd was to join us for dinner but typically was so late from work that he arrived as we were leaving the restaurant. We accompanied him to a food court across the road where he had a crepes meal as we watched and chatted.

The remainder of the visit is covered in a subsequent post.

We apologise for this interruption to our service...

OK. I was over confident about resuming posts this afternoon.

There were more emails, bills and other correspondence banked up for me on my return than I bargained for and a few other unexpected hurdles to boot.

No more hasty promises. Posts will resume in due course. (Can't you just tell I was a Public Servant?)

Normal service resumes shortly

I'm in the Qantas lounge at Brisbane Airport awaiting my return flight to Sydney and will resume normal blogging services this afternoon.

I have a backlog of reading to do too, catching up on everyone else's activity.

Today I am a senior citizen

(Actually posted June 23 although it should have appeared on June 20 but for some reason did not.)

And on the first day...it rained

So it was off to the airport this morning and my first decision was whether to call for a taxi or walk down to the railway station and take the two trains to the airport.

It has been raining on and off for days in Sydney, sometimes heavily, and the forecast was for more heavy rain this morning but at the time of my departure it was brilliantly sunny. So my decision was to train it. That proved to be a mistake.

My wait for the elevator was longer than usual because someone else was using one for furniture removals and the other seemed to be reserved for the apartment block's cleaner. Then when I finally got downstairs I met a neighbour in the driveway who chatted with me about the amount of rain we had received.

Those two 'delays' were enough to have me moments later in the street, with no shelter, drenched by a long and heavy shower. If only I had called for a taxi which I could have boarded without a drop of rain falling on my tender body.

Never mind. Eventually I made it to the first train and although dripping from the rain the advantage over taxi travel was the sight of all those cute office workers in the carriage. Taxi drivers are never that cute. Change trains at Central for the Airport line and less cute office workers on display but enough eye candy in the form of travellers to satisfy.

And now I am in the Qantas lounge again taking advantage of their free internet access, food and drink. My birthday trip is underway.

No connection

I raced home this afternoon and logged on to the computer to pay some bills over the internet and clear up other correspondence before flying to Brisbane tomorrow and losing regular internet access for the following six days.

Naturally, just when I needed internet access I could not obtain it. I tried relogging and then restarting my computer but nothing worked. Then I turned to the telephone book for Telstra's technical problems number and was bemoaning how difficult I was finding it to locate the number when I heard on the radio that it seems people are having difficulty with Telstra's Bigpond network this afternoon. 'Yes, we are' was my immediate reaction tinged with relief that whatever my difficulty it now appeared to be my ISP's problem and not just that of my own equipment.

My heart sank as the Radio station advised it was having difficulty ascertaining any information from Telstra. If they were not able to get sense out of Telstra what luck would I have? Then the station reported that whatever the problem, which Telstra was not explaining, it covered most of the state.

Now I have my access back and I must hurry to get those internet chores done.

Blogging will take a backseat for the next few days whilst I make my birthday visit to Brisbane unless I can get computer access.

Be good everyone.

At home

On Sunday, Ae and I shared an at home to mark our 60th birthdays. Ae has reached hers and mine is this Saturday.

About forty of our mutual friends crowded into Ae's home creating quite a buzz with the noise and close proximity given that afternoon showers prevented us spilling onto the back courtyard. Despite large crowds at the nearby Charing Cross Fair and our fears that parking would be non-existent as a consequence most of our friends were able to park quite close. Evidently the Fair-goers were providing a steady turnover of parking opportunities.

I was worried that we hadn't catered sufficient food (mostly hot and cold savoury nibblies) but in fact there was plenty throughout the afternoon even though the party spread across eight hours.

I'm turning my attention now to my visit to Brisbane over the weekend and the birthday festivities there.

As time goes by

(Click to enlarge)

Ruben Guthrie

Toby Schmitz plays Guthrie, a whiz kid advertising executive living the high life. When his fiancee leaves him after one drink and drug fuelled antic too many Guthrie turns to sobriety only to find greater challenges from his parents, friends and employer.

This was a far darker comedy than I was expecting and clearly resonated with the youthful audience members who were far quicker than I to pick up its musical and drink related references. Put that down to my age and being a non-drinker. Then again there were references to old jingle and advertising campaigns that were instantly recognisable to me. Put that down to my age too.

Schmitz's performance is impressive and as always he is very easy on the eye.

T (for Tomorrowland) Card

Once upon a time the NSW Government promised a T-card. The card would cover all forms of public transport in the state and simplify our travel. The T-card would be fully operational in time for the Sydney Olympic Games.

Do you remember the Sydney Olympic Games? They were held in 2000, nine years ago and without a T-card in sight. In the meantime the T-card disappeared without trace bar for an ongoing $250,000,000 law suit that is keeping lawyers in the luxury to which they have become accustomed.

Now the NSW Government is having a second go at introducing a T-Card and this time they solemnly inform us there will no delays. Who believes that?

I think they should name this version the F-Card. F for Fantasyland.

Sing it like it is...

So there we were this afternoon in the Special Care Unit (ie Dementia) at the Nursing Home celebrating the June birthdays; my mother one of the birthday 'girls'.

An entertainer has been wheeled in to serenade us. She is of the style of Jeanette McDonald and almost as old had McDonald still been alive. Sitting at the piano, our McDonald reincarnated is playing and singing rip-roaring songs to the assembled dementia sufferers and a smattering of relatives such as It's A Long Way To Tipperary and When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.

During a break in her entertainment La McDonald turns to us and thanks us for our participation and our 'clear enjoyment' of the afternoon to which my mother in a moment of complete silence and rare lucidity shouts out in response 'Like Hell'.

My mother's few sensible moments come at the most inconvenient times now but we all had a good laugh.

A bit too fishy...

This photo was taken off the Net as I didn't have my camera handy but the scene at the Sydney Fish Market today was very much as above except that there was no Santa hanging from the ceiling.

We took the Day Centre group to the Fish Market today as an outing. Although a very sunny day it was pretty cold by Sydney standards at about 12c with a chilly wind making it feel cooler still. There weren't many warm spots for this elderly group to have their lunch and sitting outside was out of the question although many younger people well rugged up were dining by the bay in the sun. In the end most of the group ate at Peters (seen on the right). One couple chose to brave the cold and eat at Nicks, I think it was called, next door whilst one other man took himself off to the more up market Doyles for a Chowder.

Peters was certainly popular especially with those purchasing fresh fish for home although I think the food they served was of rather ordinary quality. I wasn't particularly hungry and had ordered a fish cocktail and regular portion of chips and was stunned when I was given five fish pieces.

All the servings proved too hearty for the group so quite a lot of food was wasted.

The Deli and Bakery proved very tempting though and many in the group came away laden with purchases from them.

Golden day

On Sunday I accompanied Hn and Ae out to someplace called Agnes Banks, between Penrith and Richmond, for Hn to select a Golden Retriever puppy for purchase.

I'd never heard of that suburb previously whose name made think of a Bank Teller and is about a ninety minute drive from where I live. Not being a pet or animal person I really only went along for the drive but it was hard not to feel warmth for these gorgeous puppies when I set eyes on them. There are eight in the five weeks' old litter, four of each gender, and Hn is after a female. Hn had seen the puppies two weeks earlier and was now advising the breeder of her preferred pup.

The husband of the breeder was a very friendly and talkative man who took us on a walk around his four acre property showing us the extraordinary variety of trees he inherited from the previous owner.

Although I was only along for a leisurely drive the journey turned into a pleasant day in the country with our return trip taking in both Richmond and Windsor where I had not visited in at least thirty years.

Come colour my world

My 40 years' old apartment building is about to undergo maintenance including a new membrane which can be provided in any colour we choose. The current membrane and colour are in the following photograph that I took yesterday of my wing of the building. You'll notice we had a nice cloudless blue sky yesterday.


The owners' corporation has offered three colours for us to chose from for the new membrane and we are asked to vote for our choice in order of preference.

Here is Option A.


The next one is Option B.


And now Option C.


What do you reckon?

BFF

(From Current TV)

Beautiful morning

I know I have posted photos of the view from my apartment before but I felt like posting yet another because after days of rather unappealing early winter weather we woke today to a glorious morning and I wanted to capture it for you.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Yours, etc...

I was listening to an interesting program on Radio National which depicted correspondence exchanged between two people who met several times over four weeks in Melbourne sometime during the nineteenth century and who then maintained a long distance friendship by correspondence. Writing in long hand of course they exchanged news about their daily lives and opinions on all manner of issues.

Listening to the actors giving life to the letters I was struck by the thought that blogging is a modern day equivalent of the correspondence based lifestyle of more than a hundred years ago.

Not an original thought on my part no doubt, but a revelation for me anyway.

Professor Chris O'Brien (1952 - 2009)

The outstanding Australian cancer surgeon Professor Chris O'Brien has died aged 57 from a brain tumour.

...and so say all of us...

I enjoy attending birthday parties as long as they are not mine. It's not that I don't like having birthdays or getting older. In fact I have been looking forward to reaching 60 and obtaining the senior citizen's status that gives me cheaper transport, movies and all sorts of other concessions for the past couple of years and now that day is only a couple of weeks away.

What I haven't been looking forward to is the prospect of being the subject of celebrations to mark the milestone. I would prefer to pass quietly into senior citizenship and it was my intention to do so without any parties. That was always going to be a forlorn hope given that my longest standing friend Rt, who is a great extrovert, was born on the same day as me and another close friend of many years, Ae, is just three weeks older than us.

For a while Ae and I have vacillated about a party and I had thought we had succeeded in avoiding one but we have caved in under pressure from friends and have compromised by organising a casual get together to celebrate Ae's and my birthday the weekend after next. Rt, who now lives in Queensland, typically unpredictable is organising his own 'surprise' party.

Because of the relatively late notice I have been ringing around inviting guests rather than sending out written invitations which in any event would elevate the get together into something more formal than the casual afternoon both Ae and I want it to be.

Being a person who still has bouts of self doubt I have been relieved by how easy it has been to make these calls and surprised by the high acceptance rate. One downside to telephoning the invitations has been the lengthy conversations I've had with each person leaving me to wonder what on earth I will have left over to talk to them about on the day itself.

Perhaps someone like Mutant with his wide range of discussion topics might come up with some talking points for me. On second thoughts, the only topics Mutant has canvassed that I understand are sex and nudity. I'm not sure they are the small talk I want to engage in at the get together.

My Year Without Sex

Yet another film whose title seems to be a chapter heading for my life.

Sacha Horler and Matt Day are living the family life in suburban Australia with their wise-before-their-years pre-teen children when health issues turn their lives into a spin.

The movie title and the trailer give the impression this is a rip roaring comedy. Whilst it contains some humorous moments the film is in fact a quite serious, occasionally whimsical, collection of vignettes depicting the family's life over the period of a year.

Each month is given a dry title with sexual connotations and although there are linkages between the months there is little by way of overall story. That is not to say this film lacks interest. It seems to me a realistic depiction of the lives of what our Prime Minister likes to refer to as 'working families'.

Being set in the state of Victoria My Year Without Sex cannot avoid Australian Rules Football which features prominently with a particular focus on the Western Bulldogs AFL Club; the archetypal struggling club that perfectly fits the film's settings and characters.

Australia's next conned model

Police are looking for a man who posed as male modelling agent and convinced a 19 year old man to strip for him during an audition.

There's one born every minute it seems. Mind you it sounds like a great job...as long as you don't get caught.

Talking movies

Do you go to the movies to enjoy conversations? Other people's conversations, that is.

It may seem odd to some but I don't. I've never understood why some people pay up to $32, or whatever the latest charge is, for Gold Class cinema seats so as to sit in the dark and have a loud conversation during a movie. I cringe when someone sitting near me continues a conversation when the lights have gone dark and the trailers for forthcoming attractions have commenced but I'll put up with it on the assumption they will stop when the main feature commences.

On one occasion, before the commencement of the movie Knowing, a young patron asked his companion what that movie was about to which his friend started a complete minute by minute rundown of the story until I interrupted him and insisted he cease his spoiling conversation.

The other day two elderly ladies sat to my left in a packed cinema prior to State of Play and engaged in a lengthy conversation about their friends, shopping and other dramas of concern to them but of no interest to the rest of us. When the trailers started their conversation turned to a commentary of those movies and their stars.

Then came the Universal logo signalling the commencement of State of Play. To my relief their conversation died away and for the next hour we were able to focus on the film but after that point as the movie suspense started to build these two women recommenced their conversation as they anticipated each new twist in the story. "Watch out, he's going to be shot!" one surmised. "Whose wife is she again?" queried the other. And so it continued to the very end. In fact even the end credits rated all sorts of commentary with this pair.

I've never been slow in the past to tell other patrons to keep quiet and on several occasions have even more loudly than the offending talkers called out "I haven't spent $15 to listen to you two talking so please keep quiet".

I said nothing to the two ladies. I suspect there was a touch of early dementia somewhere in the mix and that any complaint would have proved useless. Others in the auditorium may have thought the same because although they turned and glowered at the women no one else spoke up either.

State of Play

A mugger and an innocent bystander are murdered and in an apparently unrelated incident a political staffer dies in the Washington subway. Of course in thrillers such as State of Play not everything is what it seems.

The story twists and turns to the very end as journalists Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams chase the leads in a scandal that threatens to drown rising politician Ben Affleck and his estranged wife Robin Wright Penn whilst newspaper editor Helen Mirren applies corporate pressure.

I haven't enjoyed a thriller as much as this in a long time although I must admit that the story is dense and the twists so tortuous that I was left scratching my head at the end. Despite that, this well acted piece was worth the effort.

Nerdy secrets

wcs has let it slip to me that he keeps his own records for the French Open tennis tournament, sheepishly admitting to nerdish behaviour.

Well, I couldn't let his admission pass without revealing my own nerdish hobby. I compile Excel spreadsheets of football attendances and have done so for years.

So, what are your nerdy secrets?

Get the message?

Thanks to Sean amongst others for identifying this.

Swine Flu

Two Dollar Millionaire

A man in Sydney is facing fraud charges.

It is alleged that he had a large number of slightly damaged Australian two dollar coins. It is alleged that he was feeding the coins into a vending machine and then pressing the 'refund' button to retrieve undamaged coins. What exactly is the fraud that would have been committed?

Well it seems that damaged Australian coins are sent overseas for disposal and no longer regarded as legal tender. Seemingly this man is alleged to have brought the damaged coins back into Australia and regardless of their status as 'damaged' they apparently were in sufficiently good enough state to be accepted by the vending machine as legal. It is alleged he had 9,000 of the coins.

I find this all quite curious.

The Umbrellas of Roland Garros

I've been amused by the images on television of ball boys holding umbrellas to provide shade for the players in the breaks between games at the French Open. It makes me think of the days of the Raj in India.

I went looking for a photograph of the scene rather than simply stealing the photograph involving Roger Federer that tennis aficionado wcs has provided in his excellent blog.

I found the above photograph of what looks like Rafael Nadal's younger brother shielding the tennis great at the US Open. Apparently the days of the Raj live on in New York too. The French ball boys hold their umbrellas with arms fully extended which must get very uncomfortable whereas to judge by this photograph the American ball boys get to snuggle up with the players.

I have no idea why Josh Brolin is grabbing at his package but it seems as good a photograph as any to illustrate this post which is simply to inform you that Tm, my regular podiatrist, was away today on paternity leave - his first child just born - so I missed out on my favourite view of his crotch as he works away on my feet.

The view of the female podiatrists performing the same task does not interest me in the slightest.

When The Rain Stops Falling

When The Rain Stops Falling is by Andrew Bovell.

Set across a period of eighty years the play presents its characters in the 1960s, 1988, 2013 and 2039. But this is no science fiction piece. Family members grapple with love and loss. The play is intricately constructed with the generations on view simultaneously and separately. Putting the pieces together as character information is gradually revealed is part of the pleasure of viewing this play. I have deliberately not provided a precis of the play here so as not to spoil that pleasure for those who may be yet to see the work.

The simple staging is extraordinarily effective and the play is accompanied by a musician whose performance (and the sound design generally) perfectly complements the play. The ensemble cast is uniformly outstanding.

One of the best plays I have seen through my Sydney Theatre Company subscription.

Floating down the Nile again...

It appears that the Premier is about to backdown on the issue of gay adoption to appease the Reverend Fred Nile and effectively purchase his support for other legislation.

Of course we all know that religious heterosexuals are the only ones suitable to be parents and are the best role models. Just ask Mel Gibson.

Speaking of dangly bits.....

(Click to enlarge - the cartoon, that is!)

Bachelor Boy

As I write Mt is in the air on the return flight to Ballina and I am a bachelor boy again.

It was good to have company for the past week but having lived solo for so long it is also a relief to have the apartment to myself again. I can resume wandering around as and how I please without frightening the natives with the sight of my dangly bits or whatever else I might have on display.

My longest relationship was with En who had a fixation on my bits. His eyes were forever focused on them around the house and for a while I understood how women felt about men who talk to their breasts.

Written on the wind

Today is our fourth and last day at the Sydney Writers' Festival 2009. The festival which is mostly staged around harbour side venues has been battered by strong winds and plenty of rain, some of it quite heavy. Whilst we have been out and about a lot we have been very lucky to have missed the worst of the rain.

Mt and I have attended some sessions together but mostly we split up to pursue sessions in line with our individual interests. So I have been attending sessions with titles like Biography and Intimacy and True Crime Stories whilst the sessions Mt has been attending have titles such as An Evening with Germaine Greer and Is This the End for You, Me and Capitalism?

Mt is the serious thinker whilst I am only interested in the dirt. I haven't told Mt that half the sessions I selected were chosen for the cuteness factor of the speaker's bio photograph.

Yes, I am that shallow.

Archibald Prize 2009

I took Mt to the Art Gallery to see this year's finalists in this year's Archibald Prize.

I'm no expert on art and my tastes in portraits tends towards 'vanilla' rather than the abstract. I prefer portraits where you can make out who has been painted. I enjoyed this year's finalists far more than last year's when there were fewer identifiable images.

Even so I found this year's winner, Guy Maestri's portrait of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, too brooding for my liking.


I preferred Vincent Fantauzzo's portrait of Brandon Walters - the young actor featured in Baz Lurhmann's Australia - which won the People's Choice Award.


But if it were up to me I would have awarded the prize to Megan Roodenrys for her portrait of Australian footballer Ben Cousins for no other reason than that I could gaze upon Cousin's superb body endlessly.

Chicago The Musical

Taking Mt to see Chicago The Musical the day after seeing Guys and Dolls was like serving a hot Indian Curry after a Rice Pudding. The contrast could not have been greater.

Chicago The Musical tells the tale of two women in prison in the 1920s charged with unconnected murders and their scheming and dealing ways with a notoriety chasing lawyer and their manipulative prison warden.

Mt had never seen the show and knew nothing about it. I had seen the previous stage version in Australia ten years ago and the brilliant movie version and feared that it would no longer have that first viewing sparkle for me.


I need not have worried. This is a brilliant production. The witty songs and sensational choreography were as fresh as though we were seeing the world premiere. Caroline O'Connor and Sharon Millerchip are world class as the accused women whilst Gina Riley, of Kath and Kim fame, is a revealingly sassy warden.

The supporting ensemble is superb and even if they weren't it would be worth seeing the production for the men alone. Those fantastic bodies, the figure and package hugging costumes and their all round sexiness makes this one musical not to be missed.

A final indication of the impact of the performance on us was that it took both Mt and I hours to get to sleep afterwards simply because we were on such a high with the songs and images spinning around in our minds.

Guys and Dolls

Based on characters created by Damon Runyon, Guys and Dolls is set in New York in the post World War 11 period and tells the story of two gamblers, Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson. Detroit has been engaged for fourteen years without any signs of proceeding to marriage and he bets Masterson the challenge of winning over a Salvation Army missionary in the expectation of winning money to finance his moveable gambling dens.

Guys and Dolls is very much a musical set in its time and this production, like the show itself, must seem very old fashioned if not alien to current generations. I think for its slim storyline the show is far too long and up to forty-five minutes could have been trimmed from its length.

The gimmick of Magda Szubanski playing a male, which worked brilliantly in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, is a dud in Guys and Dolls. Otherwise, the Australian cast performs very strongly with the visit to Havana scene and Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat number standouts.

Sydney Writers' Festival 2009

Mt is down from Ballina for the week and we will be attending sessions of the Festival. I may not post during that time. If so, I should be back with more mindless jottings about my routine life from next Tuesday including a post about Guys and Dolls which we saw last night.

Keep well, everyone.

At least it was hard...

Do you take one hunk or two?

I think I might resume drinking coffee.

Batman does Robin?

My blogger mate Sean might be able to tell me what Batman is doing to Robin in the above frame?

Angels & Demons

Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, was an international bestseller which Ron Howard somehow managed to turn into a dull movie.

Now Howard has had another go at a Brown novel, Angels & Demons. Whereas I had read Da Vinci Code, I haven't read Angels and therefore have no basis for comparison as to how well he has adapted Brown's novel.

In Angels & Demons the Pope has died and the College of Cardinals is gathering to elect a successor. During this period of mourning and the interregnum, an ancient rebellious religious group has resurfaced and is threatening to kill off Cardinals and the future of the Church itself.

None other than Ewan McGregor is effectively Acting Pope in the mean time. The thought of McGregor, with his extensive body of naked work in movies, as the principal Fisher of Men is gob smacking but I heartily approve.

Who better to call on to hunt the group down than Tom Hanks? Hanks' uncanny ability to find crucial street gratings and floor murals in this movie, even under the feet of thousands crowding St Peters Square, is truly jaw-dropping.

It seemed to me that Howard has improved on his effort with Da Vinci producing a more exciting and energetic work this time but it is weighed down by its increasing implausibility the longer it runs.

At least there are plenty of scenic views of Rome, its side streets and monumental buildings.

Nine

A trailer for the forthcoming film Nine; the musical based on Federico Fellini's film 8½ and directed by Rob Marshall who also directed the Award winning film version of Chicago.



With a cast that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren - count the Academy Award winners and nominees amongst that lot - I'll certainly be lining up to see it.

Star Trek

I was never much of a viewer of the Star Trek television series and therefore not too familiar with it although I was aware of the multinational nature of its character list and of the half human, half whatever Spock.

I saw the early instalments in the movie franchise series but then lost interest and did not bother to see the later films. Now comes 2009's Star Trek complete with rave reviews.

This latest instalment takes the characters back to their beginnings with the birth of James Tiberius Kirk, destined to be Captain of the USS Enterprise, even as his father George Kirk is about to lose his life in confrontation with the villainous Nero. We see James Kirk's recruitment to the space academy, his somewhat rebellious nature and his rivalry with the young Spock. Eventually Kirk, having achieved his destiny, goes into battle with Spock against Nero.

Basically, as most of these films tend to be, the tale is of good versus evil. I won't spoil the surprise by revealing who wins.

Most of the dialogue is packed with Star Trek 'speak' delivered with the gravity of a declaration of war against a noisy background. I could get the gist, if not always the substance, of what was happening.

The film is superbly designed and the special effects as Eddy would say are 'awesome'. No kidding, those effects seemed seriously good to me.

I didn't always understand what was going on but the trip sure was fun.

By the way, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are very easy on the eye.

Dawn

Sydney a few minutes ago as the sun rises.



(Click on photos to enlarge)

Charles 'Bud' Tingwell (1923-2009)

Noted Australian actor Bud Tingwell has died aged 86 years.

Scenes from home...

Guess whose three years' old refrigerator suddenly developed 'a problem'? The freezer door (upper section) started to pop open when the refrigerator door (lower section) was closed.

Guess who called in a technician to repair 'the problem'?

Guess who was mortified to realise instantly when the technician opened the freezer door to examine 'the problem' that 'the problem' was a stocked item jutting marginally too close to the door?

Are YOU looking at ME?

He can ride my horse...

This is Chuck Wicks, a country music artist. I don't know him and I don't know his music but I saw photos of him elsewhere and couldn't resist posting one of him here.

He can serenade me anytime.

Courthouse meeting

After my 'almost meeting' with James the other day I finally have knowingly met another blogger.

Last night I had drinks with blogger Evol Kween who is on a brief visit to Sydney. It was lovely to meet him and share a few stories although on reflection I bored him with my entire history from womb to blog and I'm sure he must have gone away with a headache.

We arranged to meet outside the Courthouse Hotel at Taylors Square (pictured above) because Evol said that the Square was one of the few places he was familiar with in Sydney. Having met there we found it convenient to step inside rather than wander elsewhere for a drink.

My only surprise in meeting Evol was his height. I had imagined him to be of average height or even a little on the short side but he is very tall. It is said that television makes people look bigger than they are in real life. I can only imagine that blogs might make their authors look smaller.

Samson & Delilah

Samson and Delilah are indigenous teenagers living on an Aboriginal reserve in Central Australia. Samson is mostly indolent spending his days sniffing petrol or whatever gives him a high. He is most active when he gets a chance to play his brother's electric guitar. Delilah lives with her grandmother who she assists in creating dot paintings which the white local store manager sends to the city to be sold.

When separate events lead to their abandoning the reserve, Samson and Delilah find themselves homeless and penniless in Alice Springs.

Cast pretty well entirely with inexperienced performers Samson & Delilah is a slow moving depiction of life and challenges for Aboriginal youth.

There is little dialogue in the film. Much of the story is presented through visual clues. A glance here, a subtle movement of the fingers there and the messages given out by body language.

Not everyone's cup of tea, My didn't enjoy the film at all but I found it quite interesting although not as outstanding as some local reviewers have described it.

Gotta trust that geiger counter...

They don't test products nowadays like they used to. Imagine how much more comfortable you'd feel buying a new product that had been as thoroughly tested as this.



You'd also be so confident in a product whose contact address is a post office box at a railway station!

Mother's Day

Happy Mum's Day to Mums everywhere.