When it came time to fly back to Sydney, I was a little nervous. I had been charged for excess baggage on the way to Lismore, and I didn’t want to incur a similar charge on the way back.
I keep clothes and some other personal items at home in Lismore, so I only ever take the minimum carry-on of 7kg when flying home. However, I was a little cavalier in my packing this time around, and when I was approached in the queue, my bag weighed in at close to 9kg. I was forced to pay an extra $65.
I left a few of the items I had taken with me to Lismore at home, but even so, my bag still weighed 8kg. Carrying two laptops (one personal, one work) seemed to be the biggest issue.
So I packed the jacket I was planning to wear, with my Bluetooth speaker and computer cables in the pockets. I was still convinced that they were going to approach me in the queue again, but thankfully the plane was running late and was full, so there was little time to worry about what I was carrying.
It was lovely at the airport to run into some people who were also heading to Sydney for an exhibition at the NSW Parliament of 100 photographs taken in the weeks after last year’s Lismore floods.
In many country towns, there is no real sense of “six degrees of separation”; it’s generally only one degree of separation.
In chatting with one couple at the airport, we established that they were likely living in a house where one of my cousins lived back in the 70s. We also established that someone we mutually knew had recently started a new job, replacing someone who had recently moved to Sydney, and who was now working with my friend (also from Lismore) who was coming with me to the exhibition opening.
These country town conversations are never about what you do for a living, or where you went to school, they’re about where you’re from and who you know. “You’re from such and such town or street? Do you know such and such?” And quite often you do.
I arrived in Sydney safely and on time, and I was happy to have avoided another excess baggage charge. I was also glad to have had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. It’s always nice to come home.
You know you’re bored, or you know you’re desperate for something you read when you read junk mail from “City of Sydney”. It’s not as if it’s lacking, though, since I receive quite a few letters from “City Of Sydney” each week. But anyway, I picked up the brochure this morning about the 2007 Gardening Competition (May 21-June 27) and was inspired to read it. Well you know we boys do have to read in the toilet!
As I don’t have a garden myself, I decided to go for a walk down my favourite street, McElhone Place instead. It’s a great little street directly parallel to Fitzroy Street where the residents have banded together to ban cars and to decorate their former-slum-street with beautiful gardens. The result has been a physically beautiful street, and one which has a great sense of community pride.
Surry Hills, Sydney: It’s a great little street directly parallel to Fitzroy Street where the residents have banded together to ban cars and to decorate their former-slum-street with beautiful gardens. The result has been a physically beautiful street, and one which has a great sense of community pride.
“Speaking out on SVT tonight – Agnetha Fältskog on her difficult times” proclaimed the Aftonbladet news-stand headline all over Stockholm today. Thirty years after their break up, ABBA remains an important part of the national consciousness here, and an appearance on a national talk-show is enough to generate national news.
And this is particularly so if you’re always described in the media as “The Modern Garbo”. Although she appears in public from time to time, and repeatedly says she hates being called a recluse, it really is a big deal when Agnetha does what she’s done this week. She’s released her first new CD in eight years (and the first with original material in seventeen years), and she’s also appeared in a number of radio and television interviews.
The interviews so far have seemed somewhat rehearsed. She’s spoken about how she was approached by the writer and the producer (with a Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson pedigree, but still Swedes), and when she heard the songs, says she couldn’t resist them and agreed to do an album so long as she “didn’t sound old”. She’s 62. She’s admitted to having had some singing lessons, as she was a little out of practice for the first couple of recordings. She also now seems happy to acknowledge her ABBA past. Indeed, when you see the video clip for the first single, “When You Loved Someone” you can’t help but think it has a certain autobiographical element to it, reflecting on her own relationship breakup over thirty years ago. Or am I reading too much into it?
As soon as it was announced she had a new record and was doing some interviews, I knew she would probably appear on Skavlan. As I wrote to an ABBA mailing list the other day…
I think the TV show to keep an eye out for will be Skavlan. He does a fantastic show on SVT where he interviews celebrities all the time. He was the interviewer who spoke to Bjorn about his atheism, and to Benny and Ludvig about their alcohol problems. It wouldn’t surprise me if Agnetha turned up in this program. Even though he’s Norwegian, it’s a program where she could articulate herself clearly in Swedish, and which reaches a large population throughout Scandinavia. The program goes to air on Friday nights, and although I haven’t seen the advertised guests for this weekend, I think he would definitely be seeking out Agnetha for a forthcoming program.
I really like Skavlan’s show. He’s quite good at the confessional, but doesn’t let anything get bogged down too heavily. I think he’s like Michael Parkinson when he was in his prime. I like it so much, in fact, I wrote to the general inquiries email address of Swedish TV a few days ago asking how I could obtain a ticket to see a live recording. I’ve yet to hear back from them, though I hope it might be possible sometime in the future.
In the end she didn’t really say anything I hadn’t heard before, either in interviews, or through her book released over a decade ago. She flirted slightly with the tennis player, Mats Wilander, which was interesting. She also seemed to command a presence many years later, both for the audience, and for the other guests on the program. It was still nice to see her, reasonably comfortable and relaxed, on real live Swedish TV. Here’s the interview on Youtube. Click on the captions option to see the interview with English subtitles.
Soon afterwards I wandered out for a couple of drinks, invited by Robert and Sandra, and which included a large-ish group, very interesting group of people.
When the alarm clock went off at half-past-five I thought briefly of turning over and going back to bed. I’m not really one for getting out of bed early on a Saturday. Eight-thirty, nine-o’clock is generally okay, but five-thirty is not within my frame of reference.
But when I checked the weather and it was fine, and when I realised I had enough time for breakfast, I figured I would go ahead with it and take part in #thewalkdownunder, a photographic walk that took place across Australia today. Although it was the work of some individual volunteers, Google assisted with sponsorship for things like t-shirts, hats, breakfast and transportation.
“Are you a photographer?” I was asked by a woman I have had some real life work dealings with over the last few years. She was from the events company which was organising the event in Sydney. “No, I’m just a geek”, I told her. And it was true. I’d estimate most of those taking part were amateur photographers, complete with big cameras, big lenses, and big tripods. In contrast, I decided to attend with only my camera phone. As a camera phone, it’s pretty good, and anyway, I susbscribe to the view the best camera is the one you have with you.
For me, I was more interested in the social media aspect of this than the photography aspect. That said, I really enjoyed wandering around Cockatoo Island for a couple of hours taking photographs. Overall, a lovely day.
But now it’s time to go back to bed for a couple of hours missed sleep.
Kevin Rose from Google has posted this terrific video on Youtube which captures the day far better than I have.
Two days ago I was climbing the Eiffel Tower. Two weeks ago I was on a boat cruise around the canals of Amsterdam. Two months ago I was in the far north of Norway, experiencing the midnight sun. In stark contrast, I’ve spent most of today at airports and on planes. It’s one of those days we all have from time to time: it’s been one of those days I’ll never get back.
Although the alarm went off at 7.30 this morning, I stayed in bed a little longer. With nothing planned for the day except catching a flight at 2.15 this afternoon, I saw no real reason to get up. And besides, it was nice just to lie back in bed and look at the window and to listen to the sounds of Paris.
Thanks to the good advice of my friend David, getting to Charles de Gaulle airport was a simple affair via the metro and RER. I caught the metro to Gar du Nord, and then the RER to CDG for only eight Euros, half the price of the advertised shuttle service at the hostel. And all I had to say was “Bonjour, Charles de Galle SVP, Merci” and hand over the cash. The airport was another story.
As yet another baggage check-in queue was closed while the queue got longer and longer, the tall French woman behind me whispered in my ear, “Welcome to France”. By my reckoning, about half the attendants at the Lufthansa check-in this morning were dealing with customers, the rest had “something else to do”.
Frankfurt from the air
And then, of course, we had to go through a length queue for check-in again for the elevator to the security check-in. And then there was another lengthy queue for check-in again to get through security. And then, after that, there was another lengthy queue for coffee as well. It was a wise move, I think to to the airport several hours before my flight was due to leave as a precaution against lengthy queues.
And with quite some to pass the time at CDG, I went through my receipts, throwing out the pointless bits of paper and keeping the bits of paper that have some treasured memories. There’s some receipts, some cards, a few tickets, mostly from Sweden, as it happens.
The flight into Frankfurt was pretty good, as I enjoyed really terrific views of the nearby landscape as we landed. The only memorable thing from the flight was noticing the map in Lufthansa’s inflight magazine needs a little updating. If someone from the airline is reading this: you need to know East Timor has been independent from Indonesia for quite some time.
Catching a flight with a German airline to Hong Kong is not without some interesting cultural identity issues. About half of those on the flight are Asian, while the other half is probably mostly German. Subsequently, I’m assumed to be German, and although the flight information has been given in German, Chinese and English, all of my dealings with the flight attendants have been in German.
Well except one which happened when I was woken from my sleep. Forgetting where I was I said, “Merci” instead of “Danke schon”. Tres embarassing. After travelling around for the last ten weeks, though, my mind is awash with a number of different languages. As I’ve gone from country to country, I’ve sometimes had to think hard about the culturally appropriate greeting is. Is it “Bonjour”? Is it “Guten Tag”? Is it “Hello” or the more generic Europeanism of “Hallo” (which can sound like any one of several languges).
The entertainment on this flight is also a combination of cultures, with movies from both Hollywood and Hong Kong. There’s also been a “Video Hits” style program featuring some of that really wimpy, bland Chinese pop that makes some of the older-style Eurovision fodder seem avante garde by comparison. The one saving grace was that one of the singers, Gene Gao who is supposed to be completing a Phd at Beijing University, according to the host, is a bit of a spunk.
I’ve just had dinner which was quite good, a beef goulash. They’ve also been pretty generous with the wine. Unlike the last Lufthansa long-haul flight, I don’t think I’ll be left starving, though I have saved a chocolate bar just in case.
My body clock tells me it’s still Wednesday night, but the actual clock tells me it’s already three o’clock in the morning in Hong Kong. The weather forecast also tells me it’s about 30 degrees with high humidity. Thus, I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep before my arrival at about 10.30am Thursday local time. Fingers crossed.
“Oh my god, I’m sure that’s Danny Saucedo”, I thought to myself as I watched the SBS-2 screening of the Swedish film “Ondskan” (“Evil”). A bit of Googling and the IMDB indeed confirmed he was an uncredited “bully” in the film. The scene in which he appears, which is about a third of the way into the film, portrays ritualistic bullying in a Swedish private school in the 1950s.
At the heart of the film is the character of Erik Ponti, who lives with violence both at school and at home, where he is also beaten by his step-father.Arriving at the private school at the age of fourteen or fifteen, he refuses to abide by the hierarchical way in which the school is run. Even though you realise many of the school staff are opposed to the system, the older students, by virtue of rich parents, are able to control the younger students through the detention system, and through systematic and ritualistic bullying.
Danny Saucedo in Ondskan
Erik’s academically-inclined room-mate, Pierre is also the subject of bullying. But unlike Pierre and many young boys who are bullied at school, Erik is good at sports, and more than physically able to defend himself. Erik fights back, both physically and mentally, against the older students. He is a very powerful character. In the end, Pierre decides it’s almost too much to continue with, and Erik also comes undone when he develops a forbidden relationship with one of the school cooks. His mental focus, however, allows him to continue.
Erik och Pierre på Ondskan
It’s a film I enjoyed very much, and in doing a bit of additional research, I discovered it’s based on a very well known Swedish novel, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003. Oh, and of course, it features Danny who went on to become a Swedish pop star, and likely Eurovision Song Contest entrant for Sweden this year. And, who I got to meet a few months ago at Stockholm Pride, when I went up to him and asked if he would be happy to have a photograph with my friend, The Best Judge.
The Best Judge meets Danny Saucedo
The only unfortunate thing about the film was that I had to watch it in two parts. I’d set the film to record last night, as I was at a party, and because it had begun late the last 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes, of the film was chopped. Thank goodness there’s plenty of copies of the film on file-sharing sites both in the original Swedish, and with English language sub-titles.
Waking up at 5 am for breakfast to watch the Eurovision Song Contest is a far cry from how I experienced it two decades ago. Back then, we’d gather on a Sunday night in Australia for a delayed broadcast, indulging in too much food and alcohol, staying up excessively late, and dissecting it all at work on Monday. I no longer have the stamina for that kind of Eurovision party.
The Viewing Experience: Then and Now
Besides, the immediacy of results has changed things. Twenty years ago, even if you accidentally stumbled upon the winner, there was a strict pact among friends: no spoilers. Everyone was impressively respectful of that. It was a fun ritual; we’d have friends over, armed with our own score sheets, individually rating performers and competing to predict the winner.
Eventually, this evolved into online discussions, the Twitter Years, which was enjoyable for a while. However, I grew tired of some of the “too clever by half” comments, particularly those bordering on racist generalizations about nationalities. It became a bit tedious, so I stepped back from that. Subsequently, I transitioned to watching the live morning broadcast all by myself.
Australian Eurovision Coverage: Hits and Misses
For a number of years, I found some of the Australian Eurovision hosts a little tiresome, seemingly all trying to emulate Terry Wogan or Graham Norton. I haven’t watched the Australian coverage for several years now, as I didn’t find previous hosts particularly engaging; it sometimes felt more about them than the contest.
This year, however, I caught some of the Australian coverage with Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act. I thought they were quite good – respectful of the competition. Clearly, Courtney Act was more knowledgeable, but Tony seemed to genuinely embrace the spirit of it and wasn’t just there to mock, which I appreciated.
The Changing Face of the Contest
I do enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest. Obviously, it’s changed in the last 20 years. It used to be amusing to see the clichés from different countries, and sometimes, frankly, it was quite “naff.” More recently, it has morphed into a more mainstream pop competition. When I watch it now, I sometimes long for the days of more outlandish and “crazy” entries.
This Year’s Standout: Sweden’s “Novelty” and a Cultural Connection
Speaking of crazy, Sweden’s entry this year really appealed to me. They’ve gone from having a series of great pop songs – really beautifully made and produced – to actually having a great novelty song. It’s a great, fun number. It’s also interesting that the three men performing are Swedish-speaking Finns. As someone who speaks some Swedish, I noticed some words I didn’t understand, which I later discovered were either dialect words or Finnish. It was good to get that insight.
This year, I once again watched the Swedish coverage via SVT, the Swedish broadcaster. I prefer their more downplayed, minimalist approach – perhaps what you’d expect from the nation that gave us H&M and IKEA. It’s something I genuinely enjoy about getting up early now: breakfast and the Swedish Eurovision broadcast.
This time, I even prepared a bit more. There’s a Swedish guy in Sydney who sells Swedish confectionery through pop-up stores and markets. https://yumyumcandy.com.au/ Even though I really shouldn’t be eating sweets with my diabetes, my friend Andrea and I bought some yesterday at their pop up stall at Broadway Shopping Centre. She’s also been to Sweden and occasionally gifts me Swedish treats she finds. There was a young Swedish woman selling the candy, and we had a lovely chat with her.
Getting ready for Eurovision by buying some Swedish candy at Broadway Shopping Centre, Sydney. Pic: Andrea H
Australia at Eurovision: Reflections and Future Hopes
As we bought the Swedish candy, we also discussed Australia’s failure to make the final. We thought the song entered was reasonably okay, though it didn’t particularly stand out for me in the broader Eurovision context. Maybe a little “too clever by half”?
In fact, it’s been a number of years since I felt Australia was truly competitive. Kate Miller-Heidke’s song was quite good fun, but our peak was undoubtedly when Dami Im sang “Sound of Silence.” She came second to Ukraine, and honestly, had Ukraine not been competing, she probably would have won. It was such a great performance and song.
So, I don’t really understand how Australia’s Eurovision songs are chosen. I recall a deal with Sony Music for a while, and then perhaps a year or two of an actual national contest. Now, the selection process is unclear to me, but I believe we need to find a better way – something Australians can get genuinely excited about, and the Europeans too.
The Results (Spoiler Alet)
I caught a good chunk of Eurovision this morning, even if I did nod off once or twice. No surprises here, Sweden was my absolute favourite! What really jumped out was the massive gap between what the juries liked and what the public voted for. Juries played it safer, but the public? They were definitely up for something different. And, oh my gosh, the UK getting zero points from the public again is just golden – I bet they didn’t see that coming with Brexit! I also loved the songs from The Netherlands (who sang in French, how cool!), Ukraine, and Estonia (who went with Italian!). And even Sweden’s winner was a cool blend of Swedish, Finnish, and a Swedish dialect.
Here’s a summary of the top 10 results from the Grand Final:
Austria: JJ – “Wasted Love” (436 points) – Winner
Israel: Yuval Raphael – “New Day Will Rise” (357 points)
Estonia: Tommy Cash – “Espresso macchiato” (356 points)
Sweden: KAJ – “Bara bada bastu” (321 points)
Italy: Lucio Corsi – “Volevo essere un duro” (256 points)
