Tonight I had a ball at the Troubadour with Ms Clare and meeting new and exciting people. Lots of photos and tales to come but till then here is just one of Mr Svavar Knutur. The best night out at a concert in a long time.
BIFF Movies 3 & 4
Movies, Movies, Movies
First up was Dol: The Valley of Tambourines. A movie set in Kurdistan, starting in Turkish Kurdistan, then Iraqi Kurdistan then onto Iranian Kurdistan before returning to Turkish Kurdistan. The opening scenes they were warm and for a second you weren’t in geopolitical hotspot, you were with two young loves. It was scary, sad and thought provoking. There are three very different Kurdistans shown but they all have the same turmoil in the life. It was good, the landscape and the horses were stunning but something was missing to make it fantastic for me.
Unfinished Sky and Yolk.
Yolk is a 15 minute short film about a teenage girl with Down Syndrome, an egg, a boy and a mother (possibly single) who is frazzled. Shot round The Gap area it was great to be able to recognise local landmarks. I didn’t love it or it didn’t really grab me with the first viewing. It was better than average than though.
Unfinished Sky. A movie I have been waiting to see since I heard about it been filmed round Boonah last year. It was dark, gripping, contentious, a romance and a comedy in one. It was real in so many ways and I think what really made it that real was the decision not to subtitle Tahmeena when she was speaking in Dari. As the movie is really about John and his response to Tahmeena entering his life rather dramatically. He can only understand what she says once she has learnt some English until then her speaking Dari is just noise. It isn’t been released in cinemas till next year some time but if it happens to be screened at a Film Festival near you, I would highly recommend seeing it. I can’t express in words how much this movie is and what it counts for and what it portrays. The highlight of the festival for me so far and I think it will be hard to top.
Anyway I am off to The Troubadour to see Svavar Knutur and co
BIFF Movies 1 & 2
This evening I saw my first two BIFF Movies. The first was Bamako. I missed the first 10 minutes because of traffic chaos and perhaps that is why I never quite got my teeth into it. It was one of the movies that I was most looking forward to seeing but I ended up drifting off quite a few times. Reading some reviews I think if I had caught the beginning it probably would have made more sense for me. One of the things I loved about it was the fact that they were holding a trial in this courtyard – World Bank vs the people and the everyday life of the courtyard just continues on during the trial. That was funny.
Between the two movies I grabbed bite to eat and headed over to Captain Burke to take some photos of the city and the Story Bridge. Here is one photo.
The second movie I saw was Control and I just, this movie in terms of the art in it was the best for sure I have seen in a while. The cinematography was just so perfect. I was apprehensive about the decision to film the movie in black and white before I saw it but from the very first frame it just clicked. This movie needed to be in black and white for the pure starkness of the movie.
Joy Division is not a band that I have ever really gotten into other than loving Love Will Tear Us Apart for which I can vividly remember the film clip for. Seeing the movie though definitely made some of the songs click a bit more as to the context in which they were based. I will say it again, a really really great movie. Just so raw and powerful but still with the occasional laugh.
Outback Spectacular
We went to the Australian Outback Spectacular at the Gold Coast on Sunday night for Mum’s birthday along with Aunty Susan and Ian who are over for a short holiday from NZ.
It was an interesting night. For the price of your ticket you get a straw hat, three course meal and a showcase of the outback, the history and where we are now. It was nice to have been once but I wouldn’t be rushing back there in a hurry. Well perhaps I would rush back to have more of the salad that we were served as a starter as it was very very yummy. It had lots of endive which I just love as well. Though I wasn’t fussed over the AACo Steak or the Pavlova.
Upon entry you are herded past a series of photo stations and a shop into the bar/holding pen area where they want you to spend money on drinks for 45mins or so until they let you into the arena to your seat where you are then given free beer, wine, lemonade or water. The holding pen is decorated with lots and lots of outback memorabilia such as signs, hats, fence posts, photos etc etc.
This sign in particular was my fav.
The arena is divided into two sections, one half supports Austral Downs, the visiting station with a yellow hat band and the other half supports Wondoola Station with a red hat band. We were in the Wondoola Station section which was good because I thought the yellow hat bands were pretty average.This of course meant that whilst we were in the holding pen it was a sea of hats.
Now a stereotypical outback bar is just not going to be true blue if there is not a country singer with his/her guitar and if the stage does not suit you, what better stage is there than the back of a ute.
The show overall was pretty average in my view, possibly I think because of how they force the Australian clichés on you. Now I can say g’day and cooee with the best of them but I don’t swing my hat round in exclamation and I certainly don’t do a kookaburra laugh and you won’t force me to said mentioned things if I don’t want to.
There was three acts in the show. The first act introduced you to the outback and the people of the outback as well as some circus style horse riding which was quite good. The second act saw a reciting of The Man from Snowy River as well as “mustering” of sheep, cattle and colts before we see the men breaking in the colts in the stereotypical rough and tough way of literally breaking them and not getting anywhere. Than the daughter comes along and “whispers” to the horse and then proceeds to easily mount it and ride it round the arena. To which the men humbly accept that maybe there are better ways to break in a horse. To show how the outback has adapted to technology they mustered the cattle with a helicopter as well as quad bikes and horses. The helicopter was pretty cool, it is suspended on a rail which runs down the centre of the arena and then uses it own power to move down the rail and turn side to side. Very cool.
The final act was a competition which saw members of the audience pulled out for a kids chicken race, a beer can regatta as well a the typical barrel and flag races.
They also had a camel race round the arena which was a bit of a have really as two camels come in with two riders, they go round the ring once and then out the door again, I would have loved to have seen them go round the ring twice at least so you could actually see the animals and get a feel for them. Whilst points are awarded to the two teams through out the final act it comes down to the audience as to which station wins the show with a hat passing race. On our night the opposing station Austral Downs won the show.
One of the things I did really enjoy were the images that they projected onto the backdrop especially for The Man from Snowy River where they had a series of panoramic scenes which they would pan over as the poem progresses. That was really cool and there were some gorgeous photos on the screen.
Pies, Pies, Pies
Mum and I went to the see Waitress tonight as part of a 612ABC sneak preview for the upcoming BIFF (Brisbane International Film Festival). I am looking forward to BIFF as this year I am actually going to go to some of the movies been shown. I have highlighted I think 35 odd movies that I like the look of. However, as of next week I am getting an extra 8 hours a week at work, which I will enjoy for the money side of matters but since I do work at night it is going to cut into my planned BIFF time.
The waitress was a crack up of a movie, it was sad in parts but other parts just had you laughing and laughing and laughing. And gosh some of those pies that she made up just looked and sounded incredible. Kerri Russell was delightful and a much more developed actress than she was in the last movie I saw with her in Mad About Mambo. However it was the supporting cast that really made the movie for me. Joe the grumpy old man who owns the pie shop, Earl the husband who is not much of a husband, the two other waitresses Becky and Dawn, Ogie the guy who just doesn’t give up and so much more. It was a really great movie with just the right amount of quirk in it. I would like to make a couple of the pies mentioned in the movie and in particular the “Earl Murders Me Because I’m Having An Affair Pie” which as per Jenna’s commentary is “You smash blackberries and raspberries into a chocolate crust.†mmmmm.
The night was going so well until we tried to pay at the parking on our way. In short close to 45minutes and numerous phone calls later we managed to get out of the parking as the machines were extremely poorly designed and don’t like any coins that aren’t minty fresh. One guess who I am ringing in the morning to give a piece of my mind to.
The Farm
Every Sunday arvo we go to The Farm for dinner with Grandad as well as a chance to just chill. Washing the car when that is needed since you can no longer wash your own car in Brisbane now. Taking photos. Picking custard apples and oranges. Reading the paper or National Geographic or just talking.
Here are some assorted photos from The Farm the other Sunday.
