There was a really beautiful Swedish film on SBS-2 tonight which I stayed up to watch. At the centre of the film was an unexpected, albeit brief friendship between an older man and a younger woman.
The younger woman is, for most of the film, quite an appalling character. She’s the stereotypical Gen-Y. When she is sacked from her job for not paying enough attention to customers and for taking too many personal calls at work, she responds with “It’s not my fault if they don’t buy clothes, and it’s not my fault if my friends call me” (or words to that effect).
While at the same time that she’s not working very hard, and buying lots of clothes, and living a reasonably fine young middle class lifestyle” (She lives in Östermalm, a reasonably well-to-do part of Stockholm), she’s also not paying her bills. Eventually, she’s forced to seek unemployment benefits, but doesn’t qualify because she hasn’t worked long enough. She takes a job at McDonalds purely so she can make up the three or four weeks of paid employment to qualify.
At McDonalds she meets the older man. In contrast, he’s 61 years old, is recently divorced, and is desperately seeking work, but having difficulties because of his age.
The contrast between their two lives and attitudes is significant. She blames the world for her mistakes. He accepts his shortcomings and gets on with it.
Nonetheless, they form a brief friendship. Each of them fills something missing in each other’s lives: he has a distant daughter, she has a father she hasn’t spoken to for quite some time. Beyond that, I won’t go into further detail, or else I’ll spoil the plot, the film’s culmination.
I thought it was a really beautiful film. The characters are very likable people, despite their obvious flaws. It’s also a simple story told well, against the background of some beautiful Stockholm imagery. It’s a dark film – a lot of it is set in October/November months you might imagine, ahead of the arrival of the snow – and there are lots of night-time scenes. The film also has a very contemporary setting in bars and nightspots around Central Stockholm. The film also has a gorgeous musical accompaniment.
I’ve saved the film on my computer for later repeat watching.
“Twenty years ago”, I told Ronni Khan from Ozharvest, “I worked at Coles New World, and one of my jobs was to document the shrinkage, and to make sure the bins were locked so people couldn’t steal food. Is that still the case, or are the supermarkets now on board? Who do you still get resistance from?”.
She knew exactly what I was talking about: shrinkage is what the supermarket chains refer to and what they mean is food they throw out, and indeed, many still have a policy of locking up their garbage bins to avoid so-called “dumpster dining”. She said with the exception of ALDI, the supermarkets “say they’re on board, but they’re not really, and we could use your help in convincing them to help out”.
In asking the question, I was mindful of an earlier comment from Julian Morrow that questions should be “more than just a statement about your own life, seeking affirmation” (or words to that effect). Having worked in the media for a long time, I’m conscious of how badly constructed are the questions of some journalists. They often asked closed questions to establish facts which could have been established differently. The best questions are usually those which seek to establish fact, but then gain further insights, and of course, they shouldn’t be questions which elicit the answers your already know. I think my question did all of those things (I hope), even though it was a double-barelled question.
Ronni is an interesting character, and so is Greg Combet, and so is Jeremy Moylan. Jeremy is an activist who famously pranked the media recently, Ronni is the founder of an organisation which feeds homeless people with food otherwise thrown out by restaurants, and Greg is a former ACTU boss and federal minister.
Greg was very much in “book selling mode”, as he has recently published an autobiography, focussing on his life generally, but more specifically about his years in the Rudd/Gillard ministry. Like a bunch of people – Gillard, Swan – he’s in reflective mode about the years of the Labor Governments, and in particular, about the impact of the dysfunctional relationship between members of the ALP. The only really interesting anecdote from him was about how, in front of Bob Hawke, he described Bill Kelty as the greatest president of the ACTU. “Bob looked pretty uncomfortable”, he said, but then argued it’s usually harder to be the President of the ACTU when you have a Labor Government in place”.
I’ve been to Giant Dwarf only once before, but enjoyed it very much. For about twenty bucks, you have an hour or two of great entertainment and interesting conversation. I suspect it’s the space where The Chaser team are trying out some new ideas for television programs. The space has been on my mind once again in the last week – at work, we’re planning to hold an event there – and so I decided I’d pop along to remind myself what it’s like as a venue. I’m also a fan of the work of The Chaser, so it wasn’t like it was only for business reasons.
I had a brief cry when I watched an old family video this week. There were so many people in the video – even quite young people – who are no longer with us. When I shared the complete video with extended family, I warned them they might cry. But hopefully, they might laugh as well.
Going through a box of old videos I discovered a VHS called “Home 96 / Dreamworld” which I’ve had digitised. I knew exactly what “Dreamworld” meant: it was shot in the early 80s when some extended family visited the theme park on the Gold Coast. I shot the video, and appear only briefly in it as a teenage boy.
Family video from mid 1980s. Gloria O’Brien/ Pepper and Edna Dunn / Ianna
I didn’t really know what “Home 96” referred to, as it’s at least 25 years since we’ve watched the video. I haven’t had a VHS machine for years!
Additionally, there was a bit of mould on the videotape. So it was necessary to track down someone who could safely remove the mould and digitise the video. After a fair bit of research, I found https://movingmemories.com.au/ a small company in Earlwood, where the owner Emmanuelle did an awesome job restoring the tape. Restoration and digitisation cost $75.
As I watched “Home 96”, memories came flooding back of a return visit to Lismore in August 1996, and a brief visit to family in Brisbane. So many faces, so many people no longer with us. Chatting with a younger family member who recently had a baby, I asked him “Is that you as the baby?” to which he replied, “No I wasn’t born then”.
Family video from 1996
Even though video recordings are everywhere these days, thanks to mobile phones, I think these are the only two videos of our family which exist from that era, so they’re very special. And so pleased I made the effort to have them digitised.
Lots of younger family members who were born around the time of these videos, or even after, have written notes of thanks for making the effort. They’ve also admitted to a few tears, seeing our family from all those years ago.
“It’s normally 22, but I’ll give it to you for 18”, the guy selling the “I Love Rome” bag told me. He didn’t need to convince me. I really wanted it as a “safe” over the shoulder bag to carry my camera and phone, and I already thought that was a pretty good price anyway. And, after only a few hours here, I already really agreed with the sentiment.
“The thing about Rome that will amaze you”, a colleague told me, “is that you’re just randomly walking along and all of a sudden you go ‘Oh, there’s The Colosseum'”. And indeed she was right. At least three times today I just randomly walked past Colosseum. I even had dinner overlooking the place. Pizza and beer, of course.
Colloseum at Sunset
I arrived in Rome with no set plans for the day. I’ve booked myself on a “Rome In A Day Tour” tomorrow, and I’m heading to Venice on Friday and Saturday. So, after arriving at the airport, catching the bus into town, and checking into my hotel, I set out to simply wander around the city to see what I could find, and to “get my bearings”.
As I wandered around I was overwhelmed by the historic beauty of the place. The architecture is both big and bold, and tiny and detailed. And in the midst of all of the current use standing buildings, there are those historical two-thousand year old buildings, as well as historic sites still being uncovered.
Although I don’t think this is the peak of the tourist season, it’s pretty busy. There are tourists everywhere. There’s a certain level of apparent chaos about the place. You know how when you see images of Rome, you see people driving cars in what seems to be quite an erratic matter, and with people running in an out of the cars, and you wonder how on earth it all works? Well, it does work, somehow. I’m sure people and cars collide often, but my experience from the day so far was that I quickly adapted to being able to confidently walk and cross the road in the midst of this apparent “chaos”.
Colloseum Metro, Rome
Due to the heat (34-35 degrees), I took a late afternoon break in my exploration to come back to the hotel where I’m staying. A former colleague put me on to “Domus Australia” a couple of years ago, as he and his wife had stayed there previously. When you read the online reviews, it’s hard to believe somewhere could so consistently get 9s and 10s. It’s a former monastery (or something that like that) which has been purchased and renovated by the Catholic Church in Australia. Apparently the Diocese of Lismore (my home town) was a major contributor. Subsequently there’s a lot of religious iconography around the place. There’s even a chapel. If that stuff worries you, it’s probably not the kind of place for you. But if you’re looking for a spacious hotel in a quiet area that’s modern and clean, with large rooms, friendly staff, and which I picked up for at a TERRIFIC rate via booking.com, it’s worth investigating. After only a few hours, I’d definitely come back and stay here again because, afterall, already I Love Roma.
The last few days have been “action-packed”. As well as work during the day, I’ve had quite a few social activities this week. Trivia night on Wednesday. Thursday night going to see a play, part of Late Night Library at Surry Hills Library. And then yesterday afternoon/last night, we popped in to 4A Gallery, and went to the annual fundraiser at the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative.
It was the first time I went to Late Night Library, and I’m glad I did. The performance piece, lasting about an hour, was part mime/part puppetry, with a “cinematic feel” and a terrific soundtrack. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use their “boob” as a puppet before.
Having fun at Boomalli, using the Street View app. A nice summary of the night.
Very excited about purchasing this work as part of the annual fundraiser at Boomalli. Untitled by J Duncan 2010, charcoal and oil.
Having previously braved the sometimes drunken crowds at Sydney’s nine pm and midnight fireworks, I’ve concluded it’s sometimes just as good to watch them on a television, which is what Graeme and I did last night.
In common with previous years when we have gone out for a drink on NYE, we had only one agreed rule: no cover charge. We both think it’s outrageous that ordinary pubs charge $25-30 just to enter on NYE, when they’re only offering their standard fare. “That’s good drinking money”, we both agreed, unconvinced that paying some public holiday penalties could possibly add so much to the price of a good night out.
Sydney Fireworks 2009-2010
And so we got to The Shift before 9.00 last night, before the cover charge kicked in. It was a nice enough night, as we sat, chatted, enjoyed the music, and watched the passing parade. “It’s kinda like being at a sushi train”, I joked to Graeme at one point, as we watched a number of people go round and round the bar looking for a good time. “It goes around and around, but eventually that tired old piece of tempura will get picked up by someone”, we both laughed, extending the analogy.
One of the great, unexpected things of the night was running into a guy called Greg, an ABBA fan neither of us had seen in probably a decade. He was one of the young “ABBA Gold” fans who was part of ABBAMAIL in the late 90s, and who used to travel down from Newcastle for those heady days of ABBA conventions. These days, he’s living and working in Broome, but still comes back occasionally for a bit of Sydney nightlife. It was genuinely lovely to see him, and to see that he’s happy and enjoying a rich, fulfilling life.
And from there we went to The Colombian which, unfortunately for them, has a lockout policy. Luckily, we arrived at four minutes to two and “just made it in”. When we arrived the place was packed. But due to the lockout, after an hour or so, the place was near empty as the bouncers were forced to deny entry to the many passers by who wanted to come in.
Touching hands, separated only by a window, some bouncers and a 2am lockout on Oxford Street.
In a scene reminiscent of ABBA’s video clip for “The Day Before You Came”, we re-enacted the moment where Agnetha and her partner hold hands to the window, symbolising the “pain” we felt for those friends trapped on either sides of an Oxford Street lockout with just a pain of glass and a security guard in between.
Speaking of ABBA and Sweden, and all that kind of thing, as we made our way along Oxford Street, there was another lovely unexpected moment when some random guy said to me, “Gott Nytt År”, in response to the Swedish t-shirt I was wearing. It’s Swedish for “Happy New Year”, of course.
Another unexpected highlight of the night was The Oxford. The crowd was in a very good mood, and didn’t appear to be “chemically enhanced” or drug, and the music was fun, accessible and happy. We’re both people watchers of course, and one particular highlight of the night was seeing two guys accidentally separated by the lockout policy, with one outside unable to find the other. We could see from the look on their faces each though they have been abandoned by the other. Thus, an intervention occured, as Graeme went outside and I stayed in, finally ensuring a reunion between the two. In years to come they’ll perhaps look back on the night and say they’re together thanks to “these two old blokes”.
Graeme and James keeping themselves nice.
Unfortunately, it also meant that WE got locked out too. But that was probably okay, as we were both in the mood for something different by this stage. And so ended up downstairs at The Exchange where we chatted with a lovely couple seated next to us. He was American, she was Dutch. “You’ve got a lovely city”, the Amercian bloke said, adding, “here’s to Sydney”. To which I responded, “here’s to New York”. We all laughed in agreement… The night ended as it started with Graeme and I sitting in identical seats to the ones we had met at Hungry Jacks. I had the same burger, Graeme the same chips. Life can have a lovely symmetry, can’t it? Several hours later both the crowd and Hungry Jacks itself were both looking a little worse for wear. “The toilets are disgusting”, Graeme told me. We, on the other hand were looking and feeling great, having steadily paced ourselves with lots of water in between beers.
It was a great way to spend NYE with such a good friend, totally comfortable in each other’s company, and on the lookout for each other. As Graeme and I walked up Oxford Street in the early hours of this morning, we came to an agreed conclusion: we had both managed to keep ourselves nice on New Years Eve. And that, of course, is reason to celebrate.
“It’s like being in a Latvian gay bar on a Tuesday night”, was the text message I sent to Graeme about being in Palms earlier tonight.
And I should know, after all I went to one on my trip last year. It was an occasion when, literally, they opened the bar and turned on the music when I arrived.
It’s not what you’d expect in Sydney though in the week between Christmas and NY.
But after a few days of work and sleep, I was feeling a little restless tonight, and having decided “The Best of British” on Foxtel wasn’t enough to keep me amused, I popped down to Oxford Street tonight for a bit of a look around.
“Sundays is never good at Palms” was the reply which came from Graeme who is currently in Adelaide, sampling life there.
Palms Christmas Tree
Bodybuilding Supplies Christmas Tree
Taylor Square Christmas Tree
The Christmas decorations at Palms were pretty good though, I must say, even if there were only a handful of people there. Maybe it picked up later?
Of course, it was a little busier down the road at the Midnight Shift, where the retro night highlight was a very grainy, scratchy video clip of “Male Stripper” by Man2Man. Readers of a certain age and persuasion may remember this as a dance hit from about 1985, as I recall.
Put simply, despite the decorations, and despite the musical memories, Oxford Street was pretty quiet tonight.
Sadly, the highlight for me was eating tacos for dinner and watching a drag show, and having a laugh at the Christmas tree made from “body building supplies”.
