Sully

I remember the incident of the airliner landing onto the Hudson River in New York City with all passengers and crew safely rescued.

The pilot, nicknamed 'Sully', who was responsible for this emergency landing was briefly perhaps the most famous and admired person in the world. What I have less memory of is the accompanying investigation in which the Transport Safety Board took the view that the landing was not necessary and that the plane could have been safely returned to the nearby airport.

The story of this incident and that investigation provide the subject of this film. I was lost early on with some of the technical dialogue and for a while the film seemed too intent for my liking on cheesy stereotypes; the last minute passengers, the sad story passengers, the youthful pilot taught by his grandfather etc.

Thankfully, the film really springs to life with the set piece investigations climax which I found absorbing. In the meantime the film is kept afloat (excuse the irony) by flying sequences that are very well executed.

★★★1/2

At the Barracks

A nice line of trees sheltering Victoria Barracks (left) from busy Oxford Street (right). The Jacaranda trees flower briefly around this time of year, or just slightly later, providing a gorgeous purple canopy for passers by for several weeks. I will probably miss the sight this year with an overseas departure just under two weeks away.

Bridge

Tonight, 41.31%, 12/14

Paddington Reservoir

For years a water reservoir and then concealed beneath a service station which subsequently subsided into it. Then a fenced off area of danger before the site was cleaned off and cleaned up, so to speak, to leave an attractive, below street level, generic public space on Oxford Street hosting the occasional community or cultural event. Otherwise, a nice space to laze about in.

Bridge

Tonight, 49.11%, 5/7

Indignation

In 1951, a bright young Jewish student enters a college in Ohio, exempt from conscription into the Korean War by his enrolment. The strictures of college life prove a stern test compounded by family and romantic pressures.

'Indignation' is based on a novel by Philip Roth.

The film captures the period beautifully in its depiction of the struggle young adults face to stay true to their principles under the pressure external expectations.

★★★1/2

Nerve

'Nerve' taps into the modern practice of social media. High school students sign up to observe and participate in a series of daring and increasingly dangerous activities. The reward for them is both monetary and peer acceptance.

The film makes considerable use of current technology and technological practices. This probably ensures that it will date very quickly.

Although the rating for the movie in Australia is 'M' (that is, not recommended for children under 15) it seemed pretty clear that the majority of the audience at the session I attended was under that age. It is a worrying thought that some impressionable youths searching for peer acceptance might decide to copy activities portrayed in this film.

★★

Re-purposed religion. Church to shopping

St John's Church in Paddington has been disused for as long as I can remember, boarded up with signage indicating some future redevelopment.

Well that redevelopment has been achieved.

Once a Church, now a fashion store

From the other angle

Once the Manse now a Real Estate agency

224. I should have known better

The car park in the Westfield Bondi Junction Shopping Centre is a shocker. I've known people who 'lost' their cars there and others who had panic attacks having found their car only to be unable to find an exit.

It is not as though there aren't sufficient exits. There are numerous exits. And numerous entrances too. The problem isn't so much 'the' car park; rather that the car parking facilities comprise a collection of disparate parking areas. The Westfield complex was constructed across a number of properties, most of them demolished to make way for the juggernaut.

A number of below ground pre-existing car parks were linked and incorporated into the new complex together with new underground facilities. There are apparently 3,297 parking spaces. That seems a lot, yet it is not uncommon for the car park to effectively be full. Actually, overflowing in my opinion.

I have learnt the hard way never to enter the car park when the entrance displays indicate fewer than 120 spaces are 'available'. In reality that means all spaces are occupied and more than that number of cars are inside and underground and in effect trapped trying to find a supposedly vacant space or a space that is about to be vacated. Trying to escape that queue of crawling cars in search of a space is almost an impossibility. The traffic lanes are too narrow for safe passing.

So, what am I getting at with this background information?

Well, I approached the car park today with the display indicating 224 available spaces. More than a hundred above my threshold figure. I felt uneasy. It still would be a tight fit but having driven to the Centre I was keen to complete my transaction. Against my better judgement I drove in.

Fifteen minutes later I was trapped in one of those endless queue of cars futilely searching for a space. Reaching an intersection of traffic I made a late decision to turn into a right hand lane but the angle was too tight to achieve in one turn. I stopped and reversed right back into the car turning behind me. I never saw it.

There we were trapped with others banked up angrily behind us. I had to manoeuvre down to a lower level with my tailgated accomplice following until we could find a tiny lay-by area where we could stop, examine damage and exchange details.

I was expecting a blast from the good looking young man whose car I had hit but as it turns out the bump must have been gentler than the noise accompanying it. Neither car displayed any damage. We both smiled, I apologised profusely, we shook hands and then we retreated to our cars to make our separate relieved escapes.

Only 224 spaces available. I should have known better.

Bridge

Tonight, 50.46%, 7/12

Milanese treats

Friends currently in Italy enjoying their stay in Milano (and enjoying treats like these).

Bridge

Tonight, 54.17%, 3/13

High-Rise

A doctor moves into an enormous high rise apartment block, designed to provide all the bells and whistles of modern western life, but within three months he and his fellow residents have disintegrated into a lawless, violent, self interested, sex-obsessed rabble.

As an aside I would hope this is not the fate for a certain High Riser I know.

The movie 'High-Rise' is a savage satire and critique on western capitalism. It reminds me of similar metaphorical films from the 1970s, some of them out of Italy. I can imagine the tale being told in a whimsical way by a Jacques Tati, for example, but there is nothing whimsical about this film.

It is not really my type of film but I would bet it will appear in some critics' 'best films of all times' list in the future.

★★

The Metropolitan Opera: Tosca

The Metropolitan Opera: Tosca

I have written before about my special affinity for Puccini's opera 'Tosca'. It's particular blend of passion, romance and tragedy seems to strike a chord with gay men. The opera was a favourite of my late Father who used it - and amusingly some of my late Mother's lottery winnings - to expose me to opera for the first time at a tender pre-teenage year.

I have seen the opera live and on film numerous times but this is my first exposure to a cinema screened live stage production from The Metropolitan Opera (New York). As I would expect from that company the production is superb. I was quite emotional by the end.

The police chief Scarpia - much the worse off for his encounter with Tosca in the image above - was performed in this production by Georgian singer George Gagnidze. I didn't know the name previously but his performance was brilliant, matched pretty well by all the principals.

Free speech

Interesting comment added to an advertising board in Paddington. The comment reads 'wife beater'.

In case you don't know, the model in the advertisement is the actor Johnny Depp who has just been divorced from his wife and I believe the grounds included domestic violence.

David Brent: Life On The Road

For the second time within weeks a movie is released based on a popular British television comedy series.

'David Brent: Life On The Road' brings back the excruciatingly off the mark manager (Ricky Gervais) from 'The Office' who takes time away from his current sales representative job to both manage and headline a band on tour. Brent is desperate to be popular, to be admired, to be part of the team. He fails in all respects blissfully ignorant as to how out of step he is with almost everyone he encounters. He seems incapable of learning from the constant rebuffs he experiences but he tries again and again.

As with the television series he is sad to watch, yet at times as compelling to view as the cliched train smash.

The question for me is what is the point of the movie. The recently released 'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie' in its subject matter felt nothing more than an episode of the television original except it is on the big screen and is movie length.

At least 'David Brent: Life On The Road' takes its title character out of the office and into a different, musical, environment. There are a number of original songs, all of them containing excruciatingly inappropriate lyrics. Yet even then that transition is sandwiched between scenes of the familiar office context which open and close the film.

As with 'AbFab' this is mainly for aficionados.

★★1/2

War Dogs

'War Dogs' is based on actual events. Two twenty something young men pursue a get rich quickly strategy by winning tenders to provide arms to the United States Defence Forces and their allies in the Middle East war zones.

The two men succeed initially through a combination of bluff and ignorance but disaster seems inevitable.

Another look at the ugly side of life.

★★★

Food, glorious food

Melbourne's reputation for fine dining I am sure is justified. I've made two visits there in the past month and street level cafes were bristling with customers both times. I imagine finer and more expensive dining is also thriving but I made no attempt to try that out on these visits.

I spent less than twelve hours in the southern capital yesterday and my senses were sorely tempted at several sites in the city.

Hopetoun Tea Rooms

A patient queue suggests the Tea Rooms have quite a reputation

More queues, this time in a laneway for Doughnut Time

A lavish array of doughnuts

I succumbed to temptation at the Arts Centre with this Mango and Pineapple Cheesecake. The chocolate ball was hollow inside.

Curtains

John Kander and Fred Ebb were the masterful combination who created some outstanding musicals including, perhaps most notably, 'Chicago' and 'Cabaret'. Their last work together was 'Curtains' which is set in a theatre and is somewhat of a whodunnit as the leading lady is murdered during a rehearsal and a theatre-struck detective is called in to solve the case.

The musical is currently playing a limited season in Melbourne through The Production Company.

The musical is tuneful and contains some clever wordplay lyrics. The staging is professional and energetic. Unfortunately the plot is rather light and frivolous so that dramatically this is not a patch on the two earlier mentioned works.

Old fashioned and quaint.

✭✭1/2

Broken

(Photo: Helen White & Sydney Morning Herald)

The current presentation by the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, 'Broken', is set on a remote roadside where a crash brings two strangers, victim and rescuer, together and is the spark for an evolving relationship although the rescuer has a partner at home.

The play is not acted out in a traditional sense, rather the three performers speak their lines to microphones illustrating the context of the scenes by creating their own sound effects. The staging reminds me of the radio plays of the 1950s I used to listen to as a child and on one occasion saw performed live from the audience.

It is all very simple, yet most effective. The three performers are engaging and deliver their lines with  an interesting, at times, poetic rhythm.

★★★1/2

Jason Bourne

The latest in this series of thrillers which, as ever, sees renegade CIA agent 'Jason Bourne' on the run whilst trying to recall details of his lost past. In fact in this instalment those details are coming back to him.

This instalment has perhaps the lightest plot in the series to date and probably the most extravagant and improbable chase sequences. Matt Damon, once again playing the title role, has very little dialogue to deliver and is more brutish than ever, yet has lost little of his appeal.

More of the same but devotees will be largely satisfied.

★★★

One customer's soup is another's sauce

I ordered Pork Won Ton soup and paid the associated price ($11.50) but when eventually it was delivered I was given Pork Won Tons in Peanut Sauce ($15.50).

It wasn't actually what I wanted but I took it. No extra charge.

This is the second mishap with my order from the same food outlet. They are not especially efficient. Luckily, for them, the food is tasty.

Bridge

Tonight, 46.38%, 8/12

We have to move

Apparently Australia is not where we think it is.

Yes I know, we are still in the Southern Hemisphere with the Indian Ocean to our west and the Arafura and Timor Seas to our north and the Pacific Ocean to our east and the Southern Ocean to...well the name says it all.

Yes, we are sort of where we always have thought we are, only that we are 1.5 metres away from there; wherever 'there' is.

Funnily enough, I have sort of known this ever since the introduction of Apps and smart phones. Looking up Google Maps or Apple Maps I'd find myself indicated as being slightly adjacent to where I believed I was or, somewhat unnervingly, across the road from I believed myself to be.

Spooky, isn't it?

Bridge

Tonight, 49.74%, 6/8

City to Surf 2016

This annual fun run is underway as I key in this post. The run is from the Central Business District to Bondi Beach; something like 14 kilometres from memory. The elite athletes complete the course in about 45 minutes but others run or walk the course (which includes some horrendous hills) over a period of 2/3 hours.


This year the field is expected to be about 80,000.

Early runners in the field passing through Edgecliff, where I live;



The same runners (possibly) moments later passing through Double Bay to my east:

The first lady shops at the mall

In American terms, Lucy Turnbull, the wife of the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is Australia's 'First Lady'. Not that we use that term here.

Lucy Turnbull

I passed Mrs Turnbull today in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre. She was walking casually through the busy centre crowded with Saturday shoppers with a bunch of lilies slung casually over her shoulder. There was not a security presence in sight. I can't imagine Michelle Obama in a similar situation.

It reminded me that our State's former Premier, Bob Carr, and his wife regularly slipped into my local cinema for a Sunday afternoon movie without any escorts or hoo-ha.

There are some things awry with Australia at the moment but in many ways we are still a very lucky country.

Bad Moms

A mother of two school children exhausted by her domestic, family and workplace responsibilities rebels against the onerous and ideologically driven demands of the school's PTA leadership.

It seems to me that the early years of the 21st Century filmmaking will go down as a period of comedy based upon people behaving badly.

There are few characters in 'Bad Moms' who display behaviour that one might categorise as the model of child rearing nor in hand books about how families or co-workers should relate to each other. The film follows a predictable arc. There are no surprises. It is all plot by numbers.

As for comedy, all I can report is that there wasn't a single laugh out loud from the meagre audience at my session.

One positive for the movie is that females dominate it numerically and in every other way. If you can last that long, I recommend you stay for the end credits which show presumably real interviews with the female actors and their mothers. They are easily the best scenes in the entire film.

★1/2

Frida, Diego and Archie

A visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales today to see two exhibitions.

First off we spent time in the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibition. I had some prior knowledge of Kahlo but none of her husband Rivera. There were probably as many, if not more, photographs and letters on display as actual art pieces but the exhibition was very interesting none the less.

Photograph of Frida Kahlo at work

After some refreshments we moved on to the annual Archibald Prize portraiture exhibition. I didn't fancy much of what was selected as the finalists. Some barely seemed like portraits to me at all. This is an annual complaint. Of those that I could see as being portraits, quite a number failed to capture my impression of the spirit of the subjects. This, of course, is a personal view.

Archibald Prize 2016

I'd recommend seeing Frida and Diego ahead of seeing Archie.

Bridge

Tonight, 59.26%, 2/12

The abominable count

Five years ago one other volunteer and myself acted as Census Field Officers for patients in the hospital. Despite receiving some training from the local area representative for the Census we were totally unprepared for the effort involved in distributing these forms to some 270 patients and collecting their completed responses. It took us something like six hours to distribute these forms, answering questions along the way, and when we finished around 10pm on the night I was exhausted. The follow up work continued for the following couple of mornings. I was adamant I would never perform this function again.

Fast forward five years to 2016 and tonight was once again Census night. A week ago my arm was (figuratively) twisted and despite my previous adamance I agreed to perform this work again. My reluctant change of heart was based on the fact that this time eight volunteers would be involved in the distribution and collection of forms and that someone else would manage the project.

Given events that saw the online facility for returns shut down under some form of technical attack it is somewhat ironic that the marketing for Census night included a 'Pause' symbol logo and message.

Census 'fail'

Even with four times the number of volunteers involved compared with the previous Census, distribution of forms took almost as long as in 2011. However, preparation based on our previous experience made the distribution more streamlined and the collection of the completed forms was considerably more efficient and speedy than on the earlier occasion.

It is still a tiring exercise. Once again I am determined not to repeat the work.

Bridge

Tonight 46.86%, 5/8

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Two ageing women struggle, mostly unsuccessfully, to be part of the zeitgeist of the fashionable set.

'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie' is a cinematic version of the successful British television series which has its devoted following. Extended to a movie, albeit one of barely 90 minutes, the film contains no more plot than the average television episode. Frankly what's been concocted here doesn't really justify expansion from television.

I've enjoyed the television series at times and I also had some laughs from this film but my enjoyment has always been tinged with some unease.

These women behave badly and almost everyone else in the film behaves badly too or else is made to look rather silly. Why am I laughing with them, or at them? There are plenty of celebrities to ogle at if you have any idea who they are. Almost all those connected with the fashion industry were a complete mystery to me, even with their names listed in the end credits.

If you are a devotee of the television series you will probably enjoy the movie, otherwise you are likely to be appalled.

★★

Wanted: Neutral or Alive

Why, oh why, do official photographs have to look so awful? The photos of me on my local Drivers License and now on the newly issued International Drivers Permit for next month's overseas trip make me look like a convict just released after 30 years incarceration in Alcatraz.

Unfortunately I am not blessed with a naturally happy looking 'resting' face. Some people's neutral face is a natural smile. Mine is not. My neutral face makes me look unhappy or somehow disapproving.

Government authorities don't like you to smile in their identity photos. They want you to look neutral and in looking neutral - especially with my spectacles removed at their insistence - I look awful.

No wonder I get pulled aside regularly at airports to undergo the bomb residue test.

Bridge

Tonight, 37.04%, 11/12

The Hanging

'The Hanging' is a 75 minutes long, one act play by Angela Betzien; her first work to be staged by the Sydney Theatre Company.

In a theme reminiscent of Picnic at Hanging Rock, three schoolgirls go missing in the bush. Two days after their disappearance is notified one girl is found and the play revolves around the ensuing police interview of her and her nominated school teacher as the adult observer.

I saw this play at the end of a long tiring day and I suspect I dosed off momentarily at several points because there are a couple of gaps in my understanding of the events. If so, that is a pity because the play seems extremely well written and the acting of the three performers is excellent. The play is also well staged with clever, non intrusive, use of audio visual techniques.

I wish I had been more alert.

★★★

Homeward bound

The weekend, or at least that part of it spent in get together, is over too quickly.

A morning breakfast of scrambled eggs, grilled tomato, bacon and mushrooms always tastes so good when prepared by someone else. It did again this morning.

Some more leisurely banter and sitting around completed the morning until the not so mad dash to the nearby airport for my flight home.

Back on the tarmac in Sydney a little more than an hour later with the mundane tasks of laundry and ironing ahead.

Taxiing towards Terminal 2 at Sydney Airport

The farm and an oriental touch

This morning was spent at The Farm Byron Bay which is a'working farm' turned into a leisure enterprise with retail and food/cafe outlets.

There were plenty of families about as well as obviously locals identifiable (if I may comment so) by their mode of fashionable attire (trendy shorts, casually draped tops, and up market sandals) and sun/wind touched yet curiously unblemished faces.

A couple of snaps.

Afterwards we shopped at the local mall for this evening's meal, the theme of which was decided as oriental in respect of our Beijing connections. The meal comprised Mongolian Lamb, Crispy Beef strips and Curried Prawns.

Dessert was a Panna Cotta which as dictated by Masterchef judges as a requirement did wobble impressively.

Ballina bound

My few loyal regular readers will know that I regularly have get togethers with some close friends from our days working as expatriates in Beijing.

In our case we meet two, sometimes three, times in a year across the three locations of our residences, namely Sydney (myself), Brisbane (Ll & Fd) and Ballina (Mt).

This weekend Mt is hosting us in Ballina. The flight up was uneventful and punctual. The Jetstar aircraft, as usual, was tightly packed in both respects. Most seats taken and the one (economy) class structure leaving little leg or wriggle room for tall people like me.

Mt met me at the airport and we were at home ten minutes later. Ease of traffic and short travel tines being one of the joys of living in a regional town like Ballina. Ll & Fd arrived from Brisbane by car a few hours after my arrival. As is often the case were also joined by Rs & Gg, good friends who were not Beijing expatriates but whose company we all enjoy.

Menu this evening courtesy of Mt was Parsnip Soup, Lamb slow cooked in red wine served with healthy vegetables and store bought cheese cake for dessert.

Love & Friendship

'Love & Friendship' is adapted from a Jane Austen short story called Lady Susan. It is a comedy, and I suppose satire, of manners and relationships amongst titled families in 18th Century England.

A sharp tongued widow, still of marriageable age, engages in intrigues and manipulates relationships to find suitable husbands for herself and her daughter.

The dialogue is often witty and performances are sound in this period piece. I found the single tone and pace a little dull at times and struggled to maintain my focus. Aficionados of Austen and the period, however, will be delighted.

★★1/2

Bridge

Tonight, 55.78%, 4/11