Kthaahthikha
One man, a word-processor, and too much free time.
17 September, 2006
Sushi, Cinema and the Sharkfin Blues (or; the best day ever)
THE DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONES!
They don't half rock a little. I went to see them, which was highly exciting. The lead singer was incredibly beligerant - Gareth Liddard likes to say "Cunt". More power to him - he justified his poor presentation by means of the incredible show which the band put on. An hour and a half, following two support acts (the pleasant enough Ms Laura Jean and her violinist Biddy, and the incredibly-voiced Darling Downs, the singer of which careens and wobbles like Prince spliced with a hopped-up crane). Not only was the performance of "Sitting on the Edge of the Bed Crying", a stomping bout of anger-infused desperation, incredibly beautiful, but the final song of the set involved The Darling Downs being invited back on stage for a six-person, three-guitar, three singer rendition of the song "This Time", the chorus of which made me want to make love to every single person in the room at the exact same time.
This was helped by the bassist being a buxom hottie, and proceeded by the first encore, which was a long and winding acoustic-and-harmonica blues/folk piece about convicts and murderers in the Port Maquarie district. Sad but haunting.
Also I talked to some guy there who knew nothing about the Drones, and who mostly listened to The Art of Fighting - little different. Someone nicked my seat before his opinion could be garnered. I'm sure he liked it. Guy looked like John Leguizamo, which was weird.
Prior to all of this - exciting adventures in the form of paying 16 dollars for a largely worthless Picasso exhibition. The exhibition was called "Love and War" and almost entirely framed around the piece "Guernica", which had the extreme gall to not actually be present at the gallery. A large LCD projection does not cut it. I really liked, however, the painting "Tete d'une femme", which a GIS fails to provide.
Far more fanscinating was the National Gallery of Victoria International Centre's stunning array of ancient artefacts - New Guinean masks, Grecian Urns, Egyptian coffins, gold death masks, Olmec statuary, Chinese idols, silk-screens, coppers, ushaptis, Khmer bax reliefs. Utterly wonderful. I always wondered why the NGV had such a poor collection - because all the good stuff is in the international centre. I ended-up getting lost wandering through steel-walled labyrinths, along plate-glass mezzanines, stumbling upon cathedrals piled high with Flemish triptychs and Elizabethan portraiture. I would take issue with their early 20th century European collection, though - the most interesting piece was by Wyndham Lewis.
However there was a New Guinean sheild made out of sheet-metal and adorned with an image of the Phantom.
This isn't it but it gives you an idea.
And a hilarious death mask.
After this, I wandered over the ACMI, where there was, unbeknownst to me until I stumbled upon a free-standing plinth, an hour-and-a-half lecture on the British period of Alfred Hitchcock's career, complete with clips of such utterly brilliant films as Sabotage. Unfortunately the best stuff, like the Albert Hall sequence in The Man Who Knew Too Much, couldn't get a showing because that would spoil the film. My own favourite segment from a Hitchcock film is a toss-up between the scene where she knifes her husband in Sabotage, and the final moments of Rear Window. I don't think saying "All of Rope" counts.
Plus points - the speaker had a cool Eastern European accent which she used to read us Hitchcock's short-story "Gas". Neat.
I also had sushi for the first time ever, since for the same price as a sub I could get twice as much food. Sushi trains are slightly les cool than soul trains, but far cooler than a bridal train. The people next to me were quite put-upon as I had them explain how the thing worked, and what colour the plates were. I still can't figure-out if avocado and raw salmon is delicious or utterly repulsive.
That's basically it. It was a lot to squeeze into one afternoon. Pretty fine day, though. All being culturally aware and having adventures and getting to see the world's largest TV wall.
They don't half rock a little. I went to see them, which was highly exciting. The lead singer was incredibly beligerant - Gareth Liddard likes to say "Cunt". More power to him - he justified his poor presentation by means of the incredible show which the band put on. An hour and a half, following two support acts (the pleasant enough Ms Laura Jean and her violinist Biddy, and the incredibly-voiced Darling Downs, the singer of which careens and wobbles like Prince spliced with a hopped-up crane). Not only was the performance of "Sitting on the Edge of the Bed Crying", a stomping bout of anger-infused desperation, incredibly beautiful, but the final song of the set involved The Darling Downs being invited back on stage for a six-person, three-guitar, three singer rendition of the song "This Time", the chorus of which made me want to make love to every single person in the room at the exact same time.
This was helped by the bassist being a buxom hottie, and proceeded by the first encore, which was a long and winding acoustic-and-harmonica blues/folk piece about convicts and murderers in the Port Maquarie district. Sad but haunting.
Also I talked to some guy there who knew nothing about the Drones, and who mostly listened to The Art of Fighting - little different. Someone nicked my seat before his opinion could be garnered. I'm sure he liked it. Guy looked like John Leguizamo, which was weird.
Prior to all of this - exciting adventures in the form of paying 16 dollars for a largely worthless Picasso exhibition. The exhibition was called "Love and War" and almost entirely framed around the piece "Guernica", which had the extreme gall to not actually be present at the gallery. A large LCD projection does not cut it. I really liked, however, the painting "Tete d'une femme", which a GIS fails to provide.
Far more fanscinating was the National Gallery of Victoria International Centre's stunning array of ancient artefacts - New Guinean masks, Grecian Urns, Egyptian coffins, gold death masks, Olmec statuary, Chinese idols, silk-screens, coppers, ushaptis, Khmer bax reliefs. Utterly wonderful. I always wondered why the NGV had such a poor collection - because all the good stuff is in the international centre. I ended-up getting lost wandering through steel-walled labyrinths, along plate-glass mezzanines, stumbling upon cathedrals piled high with Flemish triptychs and Elizabethan portraiture. I would take issue with their early 20th century European collection, though - the most interesting piece was by Wyndham Lewis.
However there was a New Guinean sheild made out of sheet-metal and adorned with an image of the Phantom.
This isn't it but it gives you an idea.
And a hilarious death mask.
After this, I wandered over the ACMI, where there was, unbeknownst to me until I stumbled upon a free-standing plinth, an hour-and-a-half lecture on the British period of Alfred Hitchcock's career, complete with clips of such utterly brilliant films as Sabotage. Unfortunately the best stuff, like the Albert Hall sequence in The Man Who Knew Too Much, couldn't get a showing because that would spoil the film. My own favourite segment from a Hitchcock film is a toss-up between the scene where she knifes her husband in Sabotage, and the final moments of Rear Window. I don't think saying "All of Rope" counts.
Plus points - the speaker had a cool Eastern European accent which she used to read us Hitchcock's short-story "Gas". Neat.
I also had sushi for the first time ever, since for the same price as a sub I could get twice as much food. Sushi trains are slightly les cool than soul trains, but far cooler than a bridal train. The people next to me were quite put-upon as I had them explain how the thing worked, and what colour the plates were. I still can't figure-out if avocado and raw salmon is delicious or utterly repulsive.
That's basically it. It was a lot to squeeze into one afternoon. Pretty fine day, though. All being culturally aware and having adventures and getting to see the world's largest TV wall.
