A friend and I had been talking about going to see “Flow” for a couple of weeks. He has a few other things on his plate at the moment and in the end, decided he couldn’t make the commitment.
So on Thursday I wandered by the NORPA box office in Lismore, on spec, hoping there might still be some remaining tickets. Thursday and Friday were sold out, but there were still some tickets for Saturday, the assistant told me.
As we looked through the seating plan together, I spotted some empty seats in the front row. “I know some people don’t like the front row, but I’m happy to sit there”, I told her.
I’m not sure how many seats there are in the theatre, but it was close to full. There were a few other seats free in the front row includig a couple next to me, and everyone was wearing a face-mask.
I overheard one person have a “discussion” when questioned why he wasn’t wearing a face-mask. Frankly, given the large number of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists in this area, I thought there might have been more.
“I have an exemption”, the man told the assistant. She replied asking him if he could prove that exemption, and when he said “No, I don’t have the paper”, she asked if he had it on his phone.
When he couldn’t produce that either, she firmly told him they would happily refund his ticket. I don’t know what happened after that, as it was time to head inside.
“Flow” is a very “North Coast” story, with lots of specific local references. The reference to pot-holes in the road in Lismore got quite a laugh.
As the centre of the play is the re-telling of a Yaegl creation story. Yaegl is south east of Lismore and encompasses Maclean, Yamba and Iluka. Both Mitch and Blake are Yaegl & Bundjalung.
For the most part, Blake provides the music, while Mitch provides the narrative.
The creation story he tells explains the origins of some of the land-forms, particularly some of the river islands of the Clarence River.
There’s a very contemporary feel to the play, with both hip-hop and contemporary dance used throughout. I especially loved the music.
“It’s come a long way from what he first described on the verandah”, I overhead the woman behind me say with a real sense of elation at what she had seen. Obviously she must have known Mitch. There was a genuine buzz in the theatre last night.
The play also cleverly uses video clips featuring Yaegl elders, and I was especially excited to see someone I know featured in those clips, the artist Frances Belle-Parker.
I messaged her immediately on Facebook, and she replied that she had seen the play, on Thursday night and that “everyone was very proud of Mitch and Blake.”
Mitch King and Blake ‘Teddy’ Rhodes in a scene from NORPA’s ‘Flow’. Photo Tree Faerie. (The Echo)
They’ve been “testing” the new light rail (trams) in Surry Hills for about three months now. Though infrequent at the beginning, I live close enough to the tracks to notice the “ding ding” sounds have become more frequent. At night, sometimes they’ve been as regular as every ten to fifteen minutes. The rumble of the light rail also indicated to me, they’ve been running through at a much faster pace.
And so last night I ventured out with a fold up chair and a glass of wine to sit and wait for them to come through. I waited and waited. Clearly I’d left it too late, as the only thing I managed to spot was the infamous Surry Hills rabbit.
I don’t know who owns it, but apparently, this rabbit wanders out at night by itself to graze on some the nearby foliage.I also noticed there’s a “For Lease” sign on the outside of “The Book Kitchen”, a terrific cafe forced out of business by the light rail construction.
After waiting for about an hour, I packed my bags went to bed.
When my friend Sue first spotted the “Nexus Holidays China Sampler” late last year, we both thought it sounded “too good to be true”. For about the cost of a return flight from Sydney to Beijing (about $1200-$1300), the sampler price also included an internal flight from Beijing to Shanghai, accommodation in “five star hotels”, about three quarters of the meals, tour guide support, and entry to lots of major tourist attractions.
That it was previously advertised at close to $3000, and was now being offered (through Living Social) at a much lower price, made it sound even more extraordinary. After consideration of the uncertainties we decided we would go ahead and book anyway, deciding to pay an extra $400 for single accommodation instead of the twin-share. Right up until the last couple of weeks before travelling, we still couldn’t quite believe the generousness of the deal.
The last time I was in China (I mean, the first time I was in China, which was in 2010), I visited my friend Kate who was living here pretty much permanently. She was working at an art gallery there, and had an apartment in a building a very non-western part of Beijing. She invited me to come to visit and so of course I said yes.
Being with someone who had spent a bit of time there, and who had developed a network of contacts and friends (mostly among expats) meant that I was able to go a little deeper more quickly into life in Beijing than the average tourist on a package deal, which is what I did on the China Sampler. I got to do some amazing things and really treasure the memories of that trip in 2010.
It’s one of those holidays where I can pretty much recall everything that happened on every day, and the way I felt about my experiences. But this time around, being on a tour group and the experience was different. Not better, not worse. Just different.
On the positive, I probably received a little more of the “educational backgrounder” than I’d enjoyed previously. On the negative, there were moments when I wished for something a little less “touristy”.
Flights with China Eastern
I was pleasantly surprised with the flights, since I’d read some pretty average reviews of China Eastern. People who write things like “the worst airline ever” without an explanation are wasting their time and mine. And those who fly budget but expect first class are just dreamin’. But having applied those filters I still want expecting much. China Eastern surprised me. We flew from Sydney to Shanghai on an A330: modern aircraft, good but not great entertainment system and plenty of leg room. The leg room was further enhanced by having scored four seats in the centre row between only two of us.
Our trip also covered an internal flight from Beijing to Shanghai, though noting the early morning flight was hell in the transport line.
Accommodation
Accommodation in Shanghai : The accommodation was excellent. It was genuinely in the range of four to five star throughout, with large rooms and good facilities. The only negative from my perspective was the accommodation in Beijing was quite some distance away, some thirty to forty-five minutes from the centre of town, which meant by the end of the day, we were much pretty much stranded. In all the other cities, however, we were close to town.
Tour Guides
Throughout the tour we had a “national guide” and a local guide in each of the cities we visited (Beijing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou and Shanghai). They were all knowledgeable, friendly, and all spoke reasonably good English, and often with an unexpected sophistication.
Tourist Attractions
We visited all of the “key” tourist attractions including Tiananmen Square, The Imperial Palace, The Summer Palace and The Great Wall of China, as well as lots of smaller attractions including The Lingering Garden which I’d never heard of before. Of all the attractions, the only one which disappointed my slightly was our visit to The Great Wall. I’d visited what I thought was a more attractive, more interesting part of the wall when I visited in 2010, whereas our visit on this occasion was to a very touristy, very busy part of the wall. Everyone else enjoyed it, though.
Temple of HeavenMei Jia Wu Tea Village/梅家坞Sue points to a sleeping panda at Beijing Zoo
Shopping Excursions
An important part of the tour is a number of “shopping expeditions” which, I’m sure, go some way to subsidising the overall costs. These expeditions included visits to a Chinese medicine facility, a tea factory, jade factory, a silk factory, and a copper art factory.
Chinese Medicine
As I don’t have the “shopping gene” these were the parts of the trip which I found least interesting. These were the parts of the tour most likely to divide the men and the women of our group. Even if the blokes weren’t all that interested in the finished product, there was still something about manufacturing which was enough to keep the men interested. There were times when I (and others) thought too much was allowed for these shopping adventures.
Others, however, really enjoyed these parts of the trip, and many people spent a lot of money. One couple, for example, bought $7000 worth of Chinese medicine products. A few other members of the tour group later seemed to suffer “shoppers regret”, as soon after they made their purchases, they realised they’d incorrectly calculated the exchange rate.
Optional Extras
Throughout the tour there were quite a few optional extras to the program, which included light shows, an acrobatics show, a hot pot dinner, a visit to the hutongs, and yum cha lunch to name but a few. While many people had paid for all of the optional extras, Sue and I took them on a case by case basis.
Food
About two-thirds to three quarters of all meals were included in the price, including breakfast every day and usually one or two further meals. I’m a little more adventurous in my taste in food than were most of the other people on the tour, and so I was sometimes a little disappointed with the food. That said, other people on the tour found it all a little more challenging than they were used to. There was a general agreement, however, food servings were very, very generous.
Toilets
Although squat toilets are the norm in China, they posed a few “challenges” for the female members of our tour group, particularly the older ones. Most of the time, however, our tour guides provided good advice about which toilets were more “western” in style. To overcome our uneasiness about squat toilets, Sue and I adopted a routine of going to the bathroom for a number two each morning at the hotel.
Overall Experience
Tour Group in Tiananmen Square, Beijing
Going on a tour group is, by its very nature, about individual compromise. Our group ranged in age from late 20s to late 70s, with most of the group aged 50-65, so there was room for a lot of different interests based on age alone. You need to go on a tour accepting there will some things you will enjoy, some things you won’t, some people you will like, some people you won’t. Life is about compromise. Sue and I were discussing this on the bus at one point, noting we would have found it difficult to have done so many of the things we had if we had travelled by ourselves. “We could have hired a driver and guide”, I said to Sue, but balanced that by noting it would have been more expensive to have done so, and then on top of that, there would have been all of the additional costs (including entry prices, accommodation and flights) which are all covered as part of this tour. Overall, I thought the trip was excellent value and would highly recommend it to others if the offer comes up again.
If you want more detail on what happened day by day, have a look at some of my China Posts
There was a slight tinge of sadness as we packed up the Chinese New Year Exhibition at Sydney Town Hall.
Unlike setting up an exhibition which is all about the future, bumping out an exhibition is all about the end of something.
My friend Kate has done an amazing job putting all this together, and so of course I wanted to be there to help at the less-glamorous end of things.
Packing Up Exhibition
Everyone last night did an amazing job, dealing with bubble wrap, sticky tap, screw-drivers and the like. And as a number of the artists arrived to pick up their works, it was great to see them chatting to each other.
A mate who was sitting one seat away from me – who spends his working life as a food critic – noted there was something special on the menu for me, The entree at this year’s “Andrew Olle Media Lecture” was gravad lax, a typically Swedish meal, though the descriptor in the menu had this particular version as “Norwegian style”. Accompanied by herring in a teppan’yaki style batter, it was a very lovely entree. The main was good too – I had the chicken – and so was the desert and other parts of the night. Given the scale of it all, I’m constantly amazed at how they can dish up 300+ meals simultaneously without any obvious stuff-ups.
The venue was the Shangri La, by the way, or the old ANA, as many older people still refer to it. On my annual calendar, this is my annual “big night out”. Most of the time for the last five or six years, though, I’ve been working, as I’ve always had some involvement in the planning and implementation of the night. But this year I’ve had no involvement, and for me it was just a night to relax, have a great meal, chat, and generally enjoy life and just to experience the event as a “punter”.
I wasn’t around for the first one, but I’ve been going regularly to the “Olle Lecture” since the second was delivered in 1997 by Jana Wendt. As I recall, she and Channel 9 had just parted ways, and there was a “story to tell”. Along the way, there have been various journalists, media owners, and media players most of whom were on “their way up”, though some have some “made their way down” again.
2009 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – Julian Morrow
2008 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – Ray Martin
2007 Andrew Olle Lecture – John Hartigan
2006 Andrew Olle Lecture – Helen Coonan
2005 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – John Doyle
2004 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – Chris Anderson
2003 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – Harold Mitchell
2002 Andrew Olle Media Lecture – Lachlan Murdoch
2001 Andrew Olle Lecture – Kerry Stokes
2000 Andrew Olle Lecture – Eric Beecher
1999 Andrew Olle Lecture – Steve Vizard
1998 Andrew Olle Lecture – John Alexander
And this year it was the Editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger who
has overseen the newspaper’s website being voted best newspaper website in the world, while he has been named Editor of the Year three times and he is also noted for fighting, and winning, a number of high-profile legal cases involving free speech issues and corruption in government.
Digital is biting most fiercely on the press, if only because we have somehow to earn our own living (I will qualify that in a moment) and don’t enjoy the sheltered protection of licence fees or government funding. As digital eats into the press, so the press has turned its fire on public broadcasters, imagining that if only they went away everything in the garden would once more come out in bloom. And so the balance between these three separate ideas of journalism begins to teeter.
A highlight of the speech was his 15-point – very good summary – of how important Twitter is, and how it’s often under-estimated by many working in traditional media.
I’ve lost count of the times people – including a surprising number of colleagues in media companies – roll their eyes at the mention of Twitter. “No time for it,” they say, “Inane stuff about what twits are having for breakfast. Nothing to do with the news business.” Well, yes and no. Inanity – yes, sure, plenty of it. But saying that Twitter has got nothing to do with the news business is about as misguided as you could be.
“I’ve never heard Twitter intellectualized in such a manner before”, a colleague said to me as we chatted after the speech.
As the official part of the evening came to an end, a few of us made our way to the Horizon Bar on the 36-th floor, I think. I’d only ever been there once before, but remembered the view in particular. With cocktails starting at $20 each, it’s not the kind of place you chuck em down with gay abandon. But with such a great view, you’re hardly inclined to.
Very memorable night. The only downside was arriving home at about 2.00am, and discovering it was more difficult to take off my bow-tie than it was to put it on. Nothing to do with the cocktails of course :)
I had the pleasure of seeing two fantastic films recently, each with its own unique appeal.
The first was “Of An Age,” a movie that almost lost me during the opening sequence with its frenetic pace and my lack of sympathy for the characters.
However, I’m so glad I stuck with it because the rest of the film unfolds at a much more leisurely pace and captures the heart of a young man who’s finally accepting his sexuality. The central character, Ari, struggles with his identity in a culturally diverse environment, and the story reminded me of other great films like “Loaded” and “Head On.”
Overall, I highly recommend “Of An Age,” but be patient with the first fifteen minutes.
The second film I saw was “Allelujah,” and I was expecting a light-hearted English comedy with a star-studded cast that included Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Russell Tovey, and Jennifer Saunders.
However, the film surprised me with a plot twist that, in hindsight, should have been more apparent given that it’s based on a play by the renowned playwright Alan Bennett.
“Allelujah” explores themes of aged care and is filled with memorable performances, including Saunders in a role that’s a departure from her usual comedic roles.
Despite the audience being mostly composed of seniors, the film’s themes are universal, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates thoughtful storytelling.
I’d highly recommend an exhibition Kate and I attended the opening of tonight, at Sydney’s 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. It’s a gallery space which mostly features work by Australian artists who have an Asian cultural background, but often in collaboration with people from other cultural backgrounds.
As you enter the downstairs part of the gallery – located opposite the Capitol Theatre building in the tramway line – there’s a large changing projection on the wall at the moment which greets you, and then later farewells you. Curiously enough, although the worlds are in English, they use the Danish character “ø” which makes the words interesting visually, as well as because of what they actually say.
Upstairs, there’s another artwork which I loved. It’s an installation piece combining video of a man writing his name in Chinese characters on lots of pieces of paper, and then on the nearby floor you see the paper, as well as the table on which he was working. It’s also visually stunning, and an interesting combination of different types of media, I thought. It’s a work which kept me interested for quite a long period of time. Even now, I can’t get it out of mind.
There’s also a wonderful small, constructed room you can enter which combines mood lighting, art works, and cloth. I tried to take a photograph, but the darkness and mood of the space were difficult to capture.
According to the blurb associated with the exhibition…
Edge of Elsewhere is a major three-year project that brings together some of the most exciting contemporary artists from across Australia, Asia and the Pacific to develop new artworks in partnership with Sydney communities. Sydney is one of Australia’s most rapidly changing cities and is now more culturally diverse than ever before. The continually changing demographics provide an imperative to examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, communities and cultures. Edge of Elsewhere reflects and engages with the diverse cultural mix of suburban Sydney.
As for me, I didn’t actually think too much about the themes of the work, or what they were meant to convey. Frankly when it comes to art, I’m not one for intellectualism. For me, art is mostly something which is about emotional responses, and I responded emotionally and positively to all of the visual element of all of the works.
So if you’re in Chinatown over the weekend and have a few minutes, it’s worth a look.
