Over lunch (at The Tilbury) my good friend and I chatted about swimming. She’s quite a serious ocean swimmer whereas I’m more of a casual paddler. As a child, I was actually a little scared of the water, and was never a good swimmer at all. Getting my 50m medal was a major achievement, and the idea of the 1500m was well beyond my dreams. In the last few years, however, I’ve taken up swimming again, though noting it’s more “recreational” “pleasurable” than anything to do with fitness, for example. And it’s all in the “safe” environment of a swimming pool. But as I looked down at the water at Woolloomooloo, I contemplated something more adventurous : swimming in the harbour. The water was looked so clean. Gorgeous weather. Lovely day.
Aside from watching “Astro Boy” as a child, and more recently occasionally browsing at the Channel 10 Breakfast cartoons, I’ve never really had much of an interest in, nor experience of watching Japanese animation. And I guess the only reason I went to this was because it was the closing night of the Sydney Film Festival and there was the associated prospect of boozing and schmoozing.
Actually it was with some dread that Damien and I went to see the movie. I’m not a great fan of fantasy and – with the exception of The Simpsons – I’m not a fan of animation. I didn’t like Futurama. I don’t understand why there are rows and rows of those animation DVDs at the shops. Truth be told, it’s because I’m not a great fan of fiction. Anyway, a couple of drinks under our belts and we settled down.
Almost instantly I was encaptured by the movie which, incidentally, was being screend with the film’s producer in the audience. The animation was beautiful and the story enchanting. Like many fantasy works, it was a story dealing with love and an epic quest. The good natured and self-aware humour of the movie also made it appealing with its living “fire creature” and the “bobbing scarecrow” providing many moments of great laughter. The central character, however, the old woman, was the character which gave the film its humanity.
Although the film has been released in America with voices dubbed by the likes of Christian Bale and Lauren Bacall, we watched the original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles. Odd, eh?
I really love this photograph taken yesterday morning in the studio of radio station, 702 ABC Sydney. This is me with Andrea Ho and David Hua who hosted the national morning show on ABC Local Radio celebrating Lunar New Year.
When you’re in a new town or city, a place you’ve never been before, you should always head first to the main church and to the main public arts building. In towns and cities where there aren’t too many sky-scrapers, the main church usually has an excellent view of the city. In a more modern sense, prominent arts buildings (such as an opera house or a museum), usually have great restaurants and cafes which overlook the city.
I would have liked to have taken the elevator to the top of the main church, but there was a funeral there today, and I thought it would be somewhat mercenary to be ranging around waiting for the hearse to leave. Instead, I visited the Recital Hall and Conference Centre, with its unashamedly modern architectural style. In some ways, the design reminded me of the water cube in Beijing, from the outside at least. It’s fairly new, with construction slowed by the economic collapse which occurred. There was hardly anyone there when I visited later in the morning, wandering comfortably through all five levels by myself. At one point, from the fifth level, it was great to sit, quietly, on a comfy leather lounge and enjoy the stunning view of the nearby mountains.
Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík
As you do your tourism research, it seems much of the tourist attention for Iceland is focussed on the outdoors experience. It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of people arrive from overseas and go straight to the countryside, ignoring Reykjavik. I’ll be doing that later in the week, heading off on a two-day trip looking at volcanoes, walking on glaciers and the like. But my personal interests are usually far more cultural. For me, travel is about getting to know the place, to meet some locals, and to better understand the background of why they write, sing, act, and paint/photograph the things they do.
Located on the waterfront is a rather gorgeous statue called The Sun Voyager which I liked very much. The work is accompanied by an artist statement, saying it’s all about the voyages we take in life. To me, and I guess visitors it looks like a stylised Viking ship. The Wikipedia article about this emphasises that’s a common misconception.
I popped into a couple of commercial galleries today and took a look at the art on display. As with many commercial galleries, there was nothing which really touched me. I’m guessing the more interesting works may be found at the national gallery and museum which I plan to visit later in the week. There was a photographic gallery, though, which I thought looked really interesting. Out the front of the gallery, they were promoting the book, “Shot In Reykjavik” which featured a lot of street photography.
Inner city graffiti, housing, artsy place in Reykjavik
I also noticed there were lots of record stores around the central parts of town, many of them specialising in the music from Iceland. Although I certainly know Iceland which has produced a lot of great music in the last few days, my specific musical knowledge doesn’t extend far beyond Bjork. Her album, Debut, remains one of my all time favourites. It was interesting to have a look through some of the stores and to listen to some of the local music. Located roughly half way between the United States and Europe, the cultural influences of both locations seemed evident.
Later in the afternoon I called in to a bar called Kofinn, hoping to hear a little more in the way of Icelandic music playing softly in the background. “It’s Happy Hour”, the young American bloke behind the bar told me, adding I was eligible for their two-for-one beer option. Winner. But it wasn’t so much the beer that attracted me to the bar as the sign outside which offered Free Wi-Fi. Inside there was only about a dozen people (including myself) and it was almost completely silent. In the main part of the bar there were three young people seated at a nearby table. Two of them had computers. The other had a smart phone. They were all on Facebook. Occasionally they would communicate with each other (in Icelandic), but mostly they were just sitting there looking at their screens. The other reason it was quite in the bar, and I did smile when I realised the reason for their quietness, was there was a large group of deaf people at the other main table. It seems I’ll need to look elsewhere to find a bar where they play local tunes softly in the background.
Protest about the urbanisation of central Reykjavik
In terms of architecture, you can’t help but noticed the large amount of construction work going on in the centre of town. There are lots of multi-story apartment blocks being built. The construction is not without controversy if you look closely at some of the graffiti and protest signs I noticed around town. “Money destroying art and culture” was one of the messages I saw written on one wall in a central area of town with a lot of high density housing covered in street art.
I finished the day with an evening dip, once again at my “local” thermal pool. The crowd on both nights has consisted of family and friend groups of all ages. A guy started chatting to me tonight, and then quickly switched to English when I gave him that blank look. When he asked me why I’d come to Iceland, I told him because I thought it would be so completely different to Australia. “We’re at opposite sides of the world and in opposite hemispheres”, I told him. Of course he asked if I was planning to go to the world famous Blue Lagoon hot baths, and when I told him yes, I asked him what he thought of them. He looked at another bloke who was in the pool for guidance, and told me “Sometimes they’re good and sometimes they’re not so good. You should go when the weather’s fine”, he added. I read somewhere the other day locals don’t go there so much anymore, as they’re very expensive in comparison with the local public pools. Another guy, sitting nearby, tried to explain how the Blue Lagoon was constructed, but his English wasn’t up to the task, and so he explained in Swedish instead.
A little while later, as I was enjoying the cooler water of the main swimming pool, an American guy asked me, “Excuse me, are there pools here with different water temperatures?”. “Yes” I told him, pointing him in the right direction. When he asked about the temperatures, I joked they came in hot, hotter, and hotter again. After trying out the hottest one, he very quickly joined me back in the much milder one. Clearly, the hot water/sauna thing is something it takes a little while for non-Icelanders while to get used to.
“Who is that woman?”, I asked my friend Paul at the After Show Party for the World Premiere of Priscilla – The Musical (based on the 1990s Australian film). She’d just sung a dance version of “California Dreaming” (by the Mammas & Pappas) which was pretty groovy, but leading to me assume she was one of those nameless, faceless backing singers who had released a disco tune or two. “I don’t know”, he said, “but she must be famous for ONE song”. For the next five minutes or so we canvassed a range of possible names. Not for one moment, though, did we pick that it was Charlene, who famously wrote and sang “I’ve Never Been To Me”. Thank goodness, she told us who she was, because no one in the room had any idea.
“You guys are ossom”, she told us on more than one occasion. “The movie is ossom, the musical is ossom and you guys are ossom”. And without further ado… “Hey lady, you lady cursing at your life. You’re a discontented mother and a regimented wife”. We all knew the words, and so it wasn’t too much of a surprise when she walked into the audience singing “I’ve Never Been To Me”, often directly with people in the audience she walked up to them. How could you possibly follow that up? With a dance version of the same song, of course. This was just one of the moments that had me shrieking with laughter last night.
The other moment that had me literally in tears laughing was the much anticipated ping-pong ball scene, one of the most controversial moments in the movie which concerns three drag queens undertaking a road trip through the Australian outback. Arriving in the middle of nowhere, the drag queens are truly shocked to discover a “Fillipino Bride” with a special talent for projectile shooting ping-pong balls from her vagina. As soon as the character arrived on stage, the whole audience took a deep breath wondering “Oh my goodness, are they gonna do it? How are they gonna do it”. Suffice it to say the most-anticipated scene in the musical was just as funny on stage, maybe even moreso because it was done live without any special camera angles.
Another show-stopping moment was the arrival in Broken Hill, as actor, Genevieve Lemon gave a tremendous performance as the “bogan chick” in the pub who challenged Bernadette to a drinking competition. The audience cried with laughter as she sang a country music-style version of “I Love The Nightlife”.
All of the songs were there, and some others, with the exception of ABBA, due to a copyright issue. So instead of carrying with him one of Agnetha’s poo’s, and being obsessed with ABBA, the younger drag queen loves Kylie. As there are so many production numbers, the musical also brings in a broader range of songs from the 60s-90s than were evident in the movie.
Almost every production number went over incredibly well, with great singing, terrific costumes, and one of the best stage props I’ve seen in a while – the bus. On occasions, though, some of the touches are so incredibly Australian – such as the road kill sequence – that I had to wonder how it would translate to the rest of the world, and to those who haven’t seen the movie.
I guess what saves it is that surprisingly, the plotline is quite good, focussing heavily on the relationship between Mitzi and his son, often poignantly, with one moment where I found myself a little teary. The musical also focusses on the relationship between Bernadette and the mechanic (the one married to the Fillipino Bride), meaning that all three leads were presented as well-formed complete characters.
I guess it was because it was such a complete musical that the audience responded so well, with a spontaneous and totally non-contrived standing ovation at the end. And this from a group of cynical media types, as the audience consisted of an A-list of Sydney and international celebrities. Locally, there was the likes of Mel & Kochy (they were sitting behind us), “Everywhere” Eddie Maguire, Jackie O, Hi-5 members, Neighbours cast members etc. Internationally, I spotted Neil Morrisey (Men Behaving Badley) and Barrie Humphries (who requested Heart Of Glass at the disco later), as well as Terrence Stamp (who played Bernadette in the movie) and Stephen Elliott (who wrote and directed the movie). Actually I spotted those two chatting outside at the After Show Party, wondering what they thought of it all.
And as for the party? Well, Charlene was a good inclusion. In keeping with the whole night, the party was also great fun, with great music, and loads of champagne (Chandon) though I was a little disappointed with the food. But it was, overall, a really great night, and I can’t help but recommend seeing “Priscilla – The Musical”.
As I will be working on the weekend, I took a day off today. I woke late, I watched a bit of television, and then I caught up with Colin for lunch. We had a vague plan of meeting at the Oxford Street corner of St Vincent’s Hospital, and then heading up to Victoria Street for a nice lunch.
Although Italian was my initial suggestion, as I walked towards Taylor Square, and began to visualise the restaurants on Victoria Street, I remembered Sel et Poivre, a terrific French cafe.
It was Colin who first took me there several years ago. I remember having snails for the first time there, and I remember with fondness their beef cheeks. I’ve been back several times to enjoy the beef cheeks, by the way. Truly memorable. Today, however, I didn’t have the beef cheeks. Instead, we both had the Beef Provencale which was excellent. And for mains, we entree, we shared a really lovely terrine.
World Cup Qualifier – Australia v Japan
After lunch, we visited the nearby French patisserie, as I’d heard they sold Princesstorta, which I mentioned the other week. And sure enough they do, in all its lurid green glory.
A brief visit to a friend who has been ill lately followed, and then I had every intention of finding a movie somewhere. Instead, I came home for a nap.
The day ended with our usual Wednesday night at the pub. “The usual place, the usual bunch”, to misquote an ABBA song. Oddly enough we found ourselves enjoying watching the Japan/Australia World Cup Qualifier which was screening on the big screen. The match was made especially compelling by the tight game. We all decided Tim Cahill was a star, even if he came across as a little inarticulate/difficult (?) in the post-game interview.
Beautiful photographs!