En route

A five hours connection wait in Santiago for the onward flight to Buenos Aires.

We are entertained by a procession of arriving Heads of Government for a three days conference in Chile on business between countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union taking place literally metres away from us on the tarmac.

Guests welcomed to Chile by the Foreign Minister include the Chancellor of Germany and the Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia. A television set in the LAN Business Lounge is set to a 24 hours news channel conveniently broadcasting proceedings live and so providing us with clues to the identity of arriving dignitaries.

Meanwhile I am typically also entertained by local colour around me.

Testing my camera in the LAN Airlines Business Lounge

Having arrived for my departure flight at Sydney Airport at 8.30am Saturday morning I finally reach my Buenos Aires hotel room at the equivalent of 11am Sunday morning, Sydney time. I am weary.

Estoy en mi camino*

(* 'I'm on my way' in Spanish)

If the flight is on time, I'm flying out of Sydney as this hits cyberspace.

Australia Day 2013

Have a good one, mate!

Actually my way of celebrating our national day is to leave the country. Pure coincidence in fact, nothing intentional but today I'm flying out for a three weeks' long holiday to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

I'm hoping I can provide some blog posts whilst I am away but if not, I'm due back home on 16 February.

I hope everyone is well in the meantime.

The Guilt Trip

An unmarried son, Seth Rogen, takes his mother, Barbra Streisand, on a road trip across the United States. His motives are surreptitious and a few home truths emerge as each learns more about the other.

Streisand's dominant personality often overwhelms films and co-stars but for once she tones down her behaviour - well, comparatively - making 'The Guilt Trip' a recognisable situation. That's how it came across to me as an only child whose own mother was at times suffocating with her displays of love and concern. And as Rogen does in this film I sometimes stubbornly failed to recognise the wisdom concealed in my mother's interventions.

I suspect the creators of this film have drawn from personal experience with this tale. Some will find the film over the top but for mine it wasn't that far off reality at times.

★★★

Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino's films are an acquired taste. His eccentric style and use of exaggerated violence are a turn off for some. I can understand that. For those who enjoy his work, and I am one, his films are fascinating in their structure and development, occasionally engrossing.

'Django Unchained' begins in 1850s United States with two bounty hunters, one a white man, the other a freed black slave, who deal summarily with their targets. This opening is the prelude to the real story which turns out to be a riff on the traditional Norse mythology of an imprisoned Brunhilde being rescued by her enamoured Siegfried.

Only Tarantino would deliver this mythological tale in the style of 1970s spaghetti westerns and pull it off.

Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx are outstanding as the bounty hunters well supported by Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L Jackson in the key supporting roles.

I was more engrossed by 'Inglourious Basterds' but 'Django Unchanged' is pretty good.

★★★★

Bridge

tonight, 46.10%, 10/12, missed opportunities.

That's him, he is one of them......

.....a grumpy old man. Yes, I'm becoming one of them.

I can't go into a bank nowadays without losing my cool and entering into an argument with the staff.

It happened again this morning.

I went into my bank to purchase a modest amount of foreign exchange. All was proceeding smoothly with the attractive young teller with whom I would have flirted when I was three decades younger.

Then he asked me to sign documentation drawing specific attention that my signature would signify acceptance of the bank's privacy policy. I read and twice re-read one dot point in that policy that the bank may disclose my personal information to;

'...our external service providers that provide services for the purpose only of our business, on a confidential basis, for example to a mailing house...'

I concluded this meant my acceptance that the bank could pass on my information leading to me being targeted for unsolicited advertising. The teller couldn't explain the clause to me - although he had drawn my attention to it - but he agreed with my interpretation. I don't think he had a clue.

I asked to see the manager who turned about to be a 40 something suited Queen. He was summarily dismissive of my concern and in precise campy tones he told me, 'if you don't like it, you can go somewhere else'. I should have.

Bridge

tonight, pretty poor, 35.70%, 9/9.

Lasagna and laughter

My friend, fellow volunteer and cinema going companion, Cs, has house guests from Canada. His sister, Ch, her husband, Rn, and her lady friend, Pt, are in town.

Cs, as is his practice, made detailed plans for their stay especially with regards to meals. Cs loves cooking and as amateur cooks go he is very good. The guests flew in on Friday. On Thursday Cs made a Lasagna and the base for his intended dessert, a Pavlova. This was to be their Friday night meal. On Saturday night the plan was for four others of us to join the four of them at dinner in a modest Thai restaurant in Bondi Junction.

That plan quickly fell apart for various reasons. To start with it turns out the Thai restaurant is still closed for its extended Christmas break. Second, the visitors' departure from Canada was delayed a few hours meaning their arrival in Sydney was later than expected. Third, the visitors arrived on Sydney's hottest day on record and in no real desire to sit down to a Lasagna meal or indeed any meal of substance.

So the Lasagna and the Pavlova were held over to Saturday night and the eight of us dined at Cs home rather than seek a substitute venue for the closed Thai diner.

It was a very enjoyable evening. I have heard a lot about Ch, Rn and Pt but unlike the three other locals had not met them previously. Ch and Pt are a lot of fun, much raucous laughter punctuating the night air. Rn, perhaps through necessity, is quieter but managed his share of input to the conversation.

It is fascinating how alike are Cs and Ch, not only in looks and build but also in behaviour. Cs possesses a very hearty laugh, his laughter when he is enjoying a comedy movie regularly attracting glances from other cinema-goers. Ch's laugh last night was as penetrative as a Kookaburra's. She really enjoys a laugh.

Ch met Rn, a French Canadian holidaying in Australia, at Bondi Beach nearly fifty years ago. They have been married 47 years. They have three generations of family in Canada and will visit Ch's other brother in Queensland on this trip. Pt is of Polish origin and was born in Canada. She also has three generations of family both in Canada and in Queensland.

The trigger for this visit is Cs' milestone birthday. The actual birthday was yesterday, hence the small gathering last night but the official party will be next Sunday with as many guests as his age. Unfortunately I can't make next weekend's celebrations as I depart for an overseas holiday on Saturday. However the Canadian visitors will still be here when I return so there should be more happy get-togethers before they wing their ways back to Canuck-land.

This is 40

'This is 40' is a curious film. A married couple with two daughters both turn forty in the same week burdened with unfulfilled ambitions and relationship issues.

Advertised as a comedy this is not laugh out loud stuff to judge by the session I attended yet it gave me regular quiet chuckles. There are numerous sharp observations about contemporary first world living which, unfortunately or inevitably, involve characters who behave unattractively displaying their warts and all. It is telling for a film viewed in almost total silence that the loudest reaction came from a combined shocked gasp across the auditorium when a mother goes over the top abusing a school principal. The same scene is replayed over the end credits in extended form and comes across as funny in a cringe inducing way. That replay suggests that much of the film's dialogue was improvised.

A shrewd observation of modern western life or just another gross out film? I'm in two minds so will rate it in the middle.

★★1/2

45.8ºc (114.44ºf)

was the maximum today in Sydney just after 3pm, the hottest day recorded in the city's history.

(Photo - Sydney Morning Herald - Edwina Pickles)

Ridiculous!

Hitchcock

Da Da, Da Da Da Da Dump De Da
Da Da Da Da Dump De Da

People my age and older will remember these whimsical notes at the commencement and conclusion of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', a television series from the 1950s in which the Master of Suspense introduces weird muted horror stories. Hitchcock made his name as Director of mystery films in which the anticipation of something terrible happening was far greater than what actually appeared on screen. It was usually a masterful example of smoke and mirrors. A sort of magic.

The most successful and famous of these films was, and remains, 'Psycho' which contains an inimitable shower sequence. Outstanding editing and use of striking music had audiences screaming in horror believing they were seeing a shocking stabbing when in reality the knife never touches the woman's skin let alone pierces it.

'Hitchcock' purports to tell the story of how the director came to make 'Psycho' against the opposition of the studio and financiers but more to the point it relates Hitchcock's voyeuristic personality, his fascination with cool blonde women and his relationship with his wife Alma who quietly was an influence in the success of his work with her skills as an editor and writer.

It is no coincidence, I think, that the large audience at my session was almost entirely comprised of people of my vintage and older. I suspect younger audiences will not get many of the film's references unless they be students of Hitchcock's work and career.

The film attempts to recreate some of the style of Hitchcock's own work and while there are moments when it doesn't quite succeed overall I really enjoyed it. Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren portray Hitch and Alma.

★★★1/2

Bridge

tonight, 50.60%, 7/13, reasonable but three poor boards proved crucial.

Getting older

Everyone of us is getting older. Day by day a day we are older than the day before. Not a profound thought really but as the cliche runs....it is better than the alternative.

Yesterday my friend Hn and I collected our tickets and travel documentation for our forthcoming holiday. On Saturday week, which is Australia Day, we are flying to South America for a three weeks holiday. It will be our first visit. I'm dreading the long flight but those distances are a fact of life for Australians. I handled them much better when I was younger but nowadays I find myself frazzled by long journeys.

Last night I failed to attend the second of this year's subscription plays at the Sydney Theatre Company. I hate wasting my ticket like that and in the past have only done so in instances of emergency situations. My weak excuse for missing the performance was car related. I didn't have access to mine. It is at the repairers and wasn't made available in time. I'm hoping the car will be ready this morning.

I could have travelled to the theatre and back by bus last night as I did on the previous Thursday evening but last night's play, 'The Secret River', is a much longer play and I just didn't fancy the late night wait for a bus home. The timetable and frequency of busses on my route really are disgraceful.

Maybe missing the theatre proved fortuitous or maybe I was punished because as soon as I went to bed I was hit by illness. It was as though I experienced a ninety minute virus. Tingling feet, nausea, a touch of diarrhoea and a headache. It would have been uncomfortable to feel like that whilst struggling through a three hours long play. Eventually I slept and this morning I feel OK. Well, reasonably OK anyway.

I'm getting older. Things just don't work as well as they used to.

Now......what's the number of the car repairer?

School Dance

(Sydney Theatre Company)

In its 75 minutes, one act structure, the play 'School Dance' set in the 1980s ambitiously recreates those mid teenage years when you expose your social graces or lack of them at the school dance. The three boys featured here, all described as 'losers', at times hilariously, at other times excruciatingly, engage in those awkward interactions. There is an oversized school bully and one very busy actress who plays all the 'random' girls who complete the casting.

There is imaginative use of animation, puppetry, music and dance and whilst some scenes may not hit the mark, overall the play is a delight.

★★★★

Gangster Squad

Based it appears on actual events to eradicate gangsters from Los Angeles in the late 1940s 'Gangster Squad' interested me because of its strong cast list and the fact that it is set in 1949, the year of my birth. I thought it would be fun to see how the world looked when I was born, even if it is a world seen through Hollywood eyes.

Judging from this film it was a very violent world indeed and one packed with cliche upon cliche. Stylistically there are occasional elements that have been heavily featured in the Australian 'Underbelly' television series, thankfully without resort to the countless topless women shots the television series used to pad out what at times was a thin storyline.

The movie plot is straightforward. A small undercover police unit is established to fight the dominant gangster team on their own turf. Hence violence fights violence. Everyone overacts shamelessly and the cliches mount with each scene.

Had a more subtle approach been tried and some charmed used this could have been a triumph, instead the in your face attitude of it all is a disappointment.

★★1/2

I am five

Today I am five. When I was a baby blog I never imagined I would grow to be five. I wonder how many years old I am in human years? Does anyone know?

Bridge

last night, 53.50%, 7/16 (competitive).

42.3c

is 108.14 degrees in Fahrenheit and was yesterday's maximum temperature in Sydney. Our fifth hottest day on record.

(Sydney Morning Herald)

It was still over 34c after midnight before a cooler change swept in from the south around 2am.

Still we, who live in the coastal suburbs of Sydney, are lucky as generally our maximum summer temperatures can be up to 15 degrees lower than our western suburbs counterparts who do not have the benefit of the ocean and harbour breezes that usually arise during the day. They didn't happen yesterday.

Elsewhere Australians have been sweltering in summer heatwaves. Thankfully although bush fires have been plentiful and many have the heartbreak of losing their homes so far there has been no great loss of life.

Today it's back to our sea breeze and a more manageable weather day for Sydney's coastal suburbs but the forecast for the weekend is looking ominous.

Bridge

last night, 42.80%, 11/12 (poor).