Though I watched briefly the NYE 9pm fireworks (and listened on the radio to an audio description the ABC did for the first time for people with a visual disability), I missed the NYE midnight fireworks. Slept. But I woke at 5am on NYD. So I guess that means, officially, I am old.
Highllights of 2017 so far? I received some lovely photographs from Karran who spent NYE watching the fireworks at Lismore Showground, and woke to the sunrise at Evan’s Head for NYD.
For the second time, I tried the new Japanese in Surry Hills, but have concluded I won’t go back. The first time I went there I was a little disappointed. It didn’t seem that fresh to me. But then I saw lots of people crowding the restaurant on NYD, so I thought I’d try it again tonight. Again, I was disappointed for the same reason. I won’t give it a third try. I also ate at my new favourite dumpling restaurant, Bei Jing Dumpling on Crown Street. I will go back there.
I’ve added a couple of Sydney people to my secret Facebook account which operates on the “no family, no work, no Sydney” rules of engagement.
I’ve watched “Monica Z” again (a terrific film) and four episodes of “The Crown” on Netflix.
That’s about it for 2017 so far. Not too much to report. Back to work tomorrow. NY resolution? I’ve blocked out lunch in my diary every day.
In the midst of all the posters on Götgatan (the main street of Södermalm) promoting concerts, festivals, comedy nights, and dance clubs, there was one I saw the other week which really stood out. In contrast to the all the other posters which were very “busy”, this poster portrayed a single image of twenty-something woman (a woman living with a disability) dressed beautifully and holding flowers.
As I was heading off to Turkey in a day or two, I didn’t have the time or attention to find out more, and so I snapped and image and made a mental note to re-visit this.
In my post-Turkey days back in Stockholm, I was determined to find out more about the exhibition. A bit of Google-ing revealed the poster was there to promote an exhibition of photographs by Stefan Bremer currently showing at the Finnish Institute in Stockholm>
The associated publicity explains…
Duva/Diva is a photographic collection created by DuvTeatern in co-operation with photographer Stefan Bremer, Blue Flamenco School of Dance, costume designer Paula Varis and graphic designer Maria Appelgren. The photographs are inspired by the beauty and glamour of the world of the opera, the proud and sensual flamenco dance, the dramatic story of Carmen and the roles developed by the performers in Carmen, Bird of Prey – a variation of Bizet’s opera Carmen. Carmen, Bird of Prey premiered in January 2011 and was a co-production between DuvTeatern, Finnish National Opera and Blue Flamenco School of Dance.
Ever since its establishment DuvTeatern has challenged common conventions and conceptions of theatre by raising such questions as who has the right to be on stage and who is a real actor. The encounter with the world of the opera and its professional singers further highlighted these themes and enabled both performers and spectators to reconsider our notions of professionalism, self-esteem and beauty. For what is beauty? Who is worthy of admiration? And, finally, who is the true Diva?
The realisation of this series of photographs was made possible thanks to the sincere commitment of the eight actors of DuvTeatern and the four dancers of the Blue Flamenco School of Dance. This publication is a tribute to them: to their dedicated, creative and ambitious approach towards their work as actors and dancers.
There’s about twenty or thirty photographs in the exhibition, and they’re all absolutely compelling. In some exhibitions where there’s a lot of similarity in the style of imagery, you can find yourself browsing the works, walking quickly from one to the next. That wasn’t the case with this exhibition. As the works were all very personal, I felt compelled to spend time with each of them, and to look closely into the eyes of the people portrayed.
There’s also a video of the actual theatrical production, and so you get a sense of what that was like also.
If you’re in Stockholm over the next few weeks, I’d highly recommend this beautiful exhibition.
“Spring is definitely here”, I thought to myself as I walked around Djurgården this afternoon.
When I arrived in Stockholm almost two months ago the lake in the middle of the city was still frozen over in many parts, and the grounds of Djurgården were still covered in snow. In contrast, the lake is now flowing and the white of the snow has been replaced by the green of the grass. A light dusting of snow on a tree trunk has been replaced (or revealed) by moss.
Temperatures are now solidly above zero. And yet it’s still a little chilly. Minutes after leaving the hotel earlier today, I was back in my room to grab a second layer. A polo-shirt and hoodie still weren’t enough for the daytime I concluded. Even though there were lots of people in the nearby playground playing soccer and running around wearing shorts, it’s still not summer yet.
The one “tourist thing” I did today, which I thought I’d share was a visit to the television tower, Kaknästornet. Even though it’s listed in all of the brochures as somewhere tourists should visit, I’ve never been. I was told several years ago by some Swedes it wasn’t worth it. They told me, it was too far away from the main city to get a really good view. Instead, I’ve preferred regular visits to Katarinahissen (which I love), and a couple of years ago, I did the rooftop tour of Stockholm (which was amazing).
But today, as I saw the bus which I knew would take me there approach, I hopped on anyway. “There’s nothing to lose except the 50KR (7 dollar) entry fee”, I thought to myself.
Guess what? The Swedes I spoke to were absolutely right. The view from the top is pretty shit. You’re too far away to see the detail of Stockholm. On top of that, there’s a wire cage all around, so the 360 degree view you have is also not that good. You have to squeeze your camera between the grid. All of the photographs I took were mostly of the sky, and from a rather uninteresting angle. For me (and others I noticed), it was only a couple of minutes on the outside viewing platform before we were back inside, sitting in confort downstairs and sipping a glass of wine. The restaurant/cafe below was actually quite good. You could sit there, look out, enjoy the view, and relax.
But if you really want to see a really good view of Stockholm, my advice is to visit places like Katarinahissen, the Modernamuseet, the Fotografiska Museet, and other places closer to the centre of the city.
I was reminded, briefly, today of my time in Renmark. Although it was more than twenty years ago, I still have strong memories of my time there. I was at a briefing by Genevieve Bell who works for Intel, and who recently did some interesting research about the use of technology in regional South Australia. She’s an anthropologist, and thus her interest is in people, which is something I am really interested too. Although I’m a bit of a “tech head”, it’s the way in which people engage with technology interests me, and also for Genevieve too.
I was pleased that she said radio remains really important in people’s lives. “Everywhere I went”, she told us, “people listened to the radio” (or words to that effect). I was fascinated by the lack of engagement, she spoke about, for many people with technology, as they weighed up the pros and cons of the cost of using the internet as opposed to things like pay-tv. I was also fascinated as she spoke about the engagement of others, such as the bloke in his 70s/80s who had been building computers since the 80s, but still said, “I know nothing about the internet”. Her point was clearly that he was fully-engaged, it was just a definitional issue.
One of the most interesting issues for me, though, and one which was interested me for quite some time is what I’ve called “the politics of proximity”. It’s something I first wrote about in 1992 in the journal, Rural Society for Charles Sturt University,
The phenomenon which I call new localism involves going beyond parochialism: it is a localism based on context. For example, working in Bourke, Western NSW, taught me about the politics of isolation and its inextricable link with lifestyle; Bourke is a community that is both strengthened and weakened by its isolation. Working in Renmark, South Australia, taught me about the politics of proximity; Renmark is a community, likewise, strengthened and weakened by its proximity to Adelaide. Wagga represents the new face of inland Australia: a community more suburban than rural. Old localism would argue that everything that happened in Bourke was fine and those outside failed to understand. New localism would argue that Bourke is a community the same as, and yet different to, many other communities. Ian McNamara’s ‘Australia All Over’ is an example of new localism. There is nothing about it that concedes to specific localities and yet, to the listener, it sounds local. This is the challenge: to produce a sense of localism which is also good.
When I asked about the question of which towns had embraced technology, and which hadn’t, and the many reasons for such engagement – leadership, economy, proximity etc – she spoke about the high level of engagement she found in towns which were on the main roadways.
She also spoke about the notions of distance. “Imaginary distance was just as important as real distance” she told us, She was referring how people in regional SA, at least, often related their perceptions of life/connection with Adelaide, whereas people in Adelaide tended to see life outside as Adelaide as being of the same distance. “It’s all just out there”, is how people in Adelaide seemed to view regional SA, whereas people in regional SA often saw themselves as just outside Adelaide, or a long way from Adelaide, or closer to Melbourne etc.
It’s a perception I’ve noticed in NSW also. Up and down the coast, and inland a few hours is a day trip. Byron is a holiday. Everything else SEEMS to be nowhere in particular, it seems to a lot of people in Sydney. And when you go out of Sydney, it’s either a trip to Melbourne or a trip overseas. When I was in Renmark, a trip to Adelaide was a big weekend away, a trip to Mildura was a shopping excursion, and a trip to Sydney was “almost there” when you reached Mittagong.
Despite our “global world”, the “politics of proximity” remains an important concept, I think.
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’ve just returned from the Peace March in Sydney. At the moment, a number of news websites are estimating the crowd at only 50,000, which is totally ridiculous. As the Mardi Gras crowd is usually estimated at half-a-million, I’d argue a more realistic figure is at least that, and probably a lot more.
The crowd is obviously much larger than the organisers had estimated, since many thousands (including myself) couldn’t actually get into Hyde Park and stood, instead, on neighbouring streets.
The speeches were long and some were unecessary, which led the crowd to call for them to cut short and for us all to “get marching”. There was also a strong anti-Israeli element in some of the speeches which I personally felt a little uncomfortable with. Although I’m a great supporter of the Palestinian cause, I don’t think you achieve much by attacking Israel (or perhaps I’m just a little naive?).
There were some good slogans, including “Somewhere in Texas a village is missing an idiot.” I also liked “Bisexuals For Peace”, commenting to Colin, “Well, at least they’re sure about one thing!” :)
Somewhere in Texas a village is missing an idiot.
Peace March in Sydney
Peace March in Sydney
Perhaps because of the immense size of the rally, the march took on a life of its own. At one point, we stood for about half-an-hour not moving at all. And although we were supposed to stop at Town Hall, the march continued on its own way, taking over many of the city’s streets, and was up near St Mary’s Cathedral when Colin and I decided to call it quits.
AFP is reporting up to 10 million people waving banners and chanting anti-war slogans jammed streets across the world today to oppose US plans to invade Iraq, in one of the biggest global peace protests in history. In London as many as two million demonstrators, according to organisers’ estimates, snubbed Prime Minister Tony Blair’s support of Washington, while Italians said a massive ‘no’ in a rebuke to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s backing of the hardline US stance.
Going to the march I didn’t really think it would make a difference, because we’re already committed. But who knows… maybe I’m wrong… maybe this will make a difference… maybe it’s more than symbolism.
“You dodged a bullet by staying in Lismore”, my friend Graeme commented the other day. Of course, he was referring to the growing COVID-19 problem in Sydney, and the associated lockdown.
Things are obviously going much better here. There have been (to date) no cases or close contacts, and the restrictions (facemasks indoors, compulsory sign-in) are minimal. Nonetheless, people are taking things seriously, and people are wearing facemasks, even outdoors, where they’re not actually required by law.
A few things have been cancelled/postponed. For example, there was going to be an Aboriginal market held today at The Quad, as part of NAIDOC Week. And last night, there was going to be a one-woman comedy show at The Civic which I had hoped to attend.
There was, however, a comedy show which wasn’t canceled, which I went to on Wednesday night at the Northern Rivers Hotel. According to the MC, most of the fourteen or so people doing stand-up were preparing to participate in the Raw Comedy competition.
They all had about five minutes to speak, and they were all reasonably funny,
Comedy night at the Northern Rivers Hotel in North Lismore
The one thing I did notice, though, were recurrent themes amongst the male comedians. A number of them referred to themselves as having small penises. A number of them also referred to their discomfort with non-binary definitions of gender and sexuality. By the time the third had come along with a routine along these lines, I’d lost interest and had gone to the bar.
I was sitting in the front row, by the way, and thus became the subject/target of interaction from the host comedian. In Sydney, I would never sit in the front row (keen to avoid the interaction), but on this occasion I did.
“Where are you from?”, she said. “Two places”, I replied, “South Lismore and Surry Hills”. For the rest of the show, I became known as “Mr Surry Hills”. I didn’t mind so much, it was fun. I couldn’t stay for the whole night. though, as it became pretty cold in the pub’s beer garden.
For the sake of my role as “guy in the front row”, they gave me a t-shirt.
Aside from that, it’s been a reasonably ordinary week of getting up, working, and hanging out with my family.
One of the very cool things about being home with family is enjoying treats like this chocolate roll from the South Lismore Bakery. It’s been years and years since I’ve had a chocolate roll.I also received a lovely gift from some colleagues in ABC Pride, in recognition of Nancy’s recent death. The flowers smelled fabulous, and the whole family has been really appreciative of the gifts, and the sentiment behind them.
The only major “drama” of the week was having to make a few alternative arrangements for my forthcoming holiday to Tasmania. Thankfully, I can still (currently) travel there, so long as I don’t leave Sydney Airport in transit. I have enough evidence that I haven’t been in Sydney anytime recently, which is good. However, the direct flight from Sydney to Hobart has now been cancelled, and has been replaced with a stop-over in Melbourne. But fingers crossed all should be okay.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying being away from the lockdown in Sydney, and wishing all the best to friends back there.
Lovely sunset, leaving work at the ABC in Lismore yesterday afternoon.
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Monica Z is a great film, I agree! All the best to you in 2017. We are back in Stockholm, woo hoo!
Monica Z is a great film, I agree! All the best to you in 2017. We are back in Stockholm, woo hoo!
Nice timing. I booked flights this morning for mid-late May! Best wishes to you also.
Mmmm, I love dumplings.