Today’s a little bittersweet, as it’s the day I said goodbye to the first car I properly bought.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Continue reading “Vroom.”
Category: Consumption
Thoughts on things I’ve experienced.
PJ Harvey: ICC Sydney Theatre, Jan 22 2017
I suppose it’s the case that there’s no such thing as a bad PJ Harvey show. But it could be that there’s such a thing as an indifferent one. One that hits the right notes, but doesn’t have the emotional resonance you’d expect.
That was the case this evening. It wasn’t phoned in – not by any measure – but there was something curiously distancing about this evening’s show. Continue reading “PJ Harvey: ICC Sydney Theatre, Jan 22 2017”
Book review: The Golem and the Jinni
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You really don’t need to read this review. It’s probably better if you don’t. If you think you’re even slightly interested in this book based on the title – which let’s face it, tells you pretty much all you need to know -then go and read it.
I’m serious. If you’ve a passing interest, even, in golems, in jinns, in magic and myth, just go.
And people who bypass the book because they think it’s going to be all magickque and twee? Well, fuck ’em, because they’ll miss out. Because, yes, there is magic in here – and I’m someone who normally can’t handle dreamcatcher, velvet-pantsed horseshittery, which is odd given my intense interest in esoterica – but it’s not really what The Golem and the Jinni is about. Continue reading “Book review: The Golem and the Jinni”
2016 consumption: a look at some stuff I liked
WELL HERE IT IS. Once more it’s time for a recap on what I did during the year, stuffwise. Previous versions are here, here and here, if you need an origin story.
Once more, I’m unsure who would actually read this all the way through, given the self-indulgence herein, but don’t worry – I’ve found an image that reflects both the world’s 2016 and my thoughts on writing the thing.
Continue reading “2016 consumption: a look at some stuff I liked”
STC: Speed-the-Plow
First things first. The Sydney Theatre Company’s production of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow is made well. It’s performed well, hits its marks and sees some obvious dedication from its three actors. Andrew Upton’s direction and Mamet’s dialogue means the time zips along. By my usual indicators, I should’ve loved the show.
And yet, something was in the way. Continue reading “STC: Speed-the-Plow”
Transmission resumes
So it’s been a bit quiet around here of late.
This is because I’ve been moving house. I’ve moved out of the house I used to own, which I thought I’d live in for a long time. Obviously, a couple of years is a long time if you’re the kind of renter who moves (or is forced to move) every couple of months, but you’re forgetting that I’m a) a curmudgeon and b) a hobbit so I’m pretty fond of my holes.
I like holes. Comfy holes. With all the things. Where I know where they are!
Ahem.
Anyway, I’m typing this on a laptop in a room full of boxes and cat toys. That’s pretty much the whole house: cat toys and boxes. But it’s a new house I’m renting – a shopfront and flat upstairs, ensuring that I finally have discovered a Pulp cliche.
Movie musings: You Only Live Twice
The next Bond film is one of my favourites. I sometimes wonder how much of my interest in Japan can be traced back from this thing, as flawed as it is.
It contains pretty much everything I associate with Bond films, even now: gadgetry, exotic travel and an overly ornate lair. This really is one of the solidly great Bond films, even though they try to make Connery look Japanese, with rather predictable results.
Continue reading “Movie musings: You Only Live Twice”Book review: George Washington Is Cash Money: A No-Bullshit Guide to the United Myths of America
George Washington Is Cash Money: A No-Bullshit Guide to the United Myths of America by Cory O’Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Look, this is a bit of a hard one for me to review. I’m not entirely sure why. I mean, I liked Cory O’Brien’s previous book about mythology, so it stands to reason that I would like this.
And I do, let’s not argue about that.
But it feels a bit weirder to be writing about actual people with the same pisstakery that’s perhaps reasonable for mythological figures. Continue reading “Book review: George Washington Is Cash Money: A No-Bullshit Guide to the United Myths of America”
Another century.
Bernard Lee’s reaction is correct: there’s now 200 haiku over at 575 Reviews.
Basho still has lots to write about.
Movie Musings: Thunderball
My Bond watching continues, so let’s get with the snarky viewer thoughts. The following are my musings while watching Thunderball, which is one of those films I’ve never really clicked with. It was a Bond film that I didn’t get to see very much when I was a kid, because video shops in Orange didn’t seem to stock it.
Watching it as an adult? A different interpretation, I suspect. There’s some nods towards seriousness at times, but not enough to overcome that turgid undersea battle at the end.
I still dig the jetpack, though, even if Bond’s StackHat is a bit ropey.
Continue reading “Movie Musings: Thunderball”
Yeah nah. 