I've missed most of the weekend. I was looking forward do to doing a lot more.
The cat is being a brat.
I've watched a full season of the Great British Bake Off, soggy bottoms and all (*IYKYK)
I've finished knitting two beanies - they just needed the ends sewn in.
And I'm a bit over it.
Hopefully I'll feel a bit better tomorrow. I won't be going into the office - I feel rancid, and going in when you are sick is no longer the done thing.
I have a head cold and I'm not happy about this. I hate colds, though I'm not travelling for another weeks, so this should all be over by next Sunday. Still, I'm already sick of the snot and I need to get more tissues tomorrow as I'm running out. The sudafed isn't touching this.
Ah well.
Questions, as always come from Bev at Sunday Stealing.
1. What's your favorite animal?
My cat Lucifer is my favourite animal. I love most animals, but he is my little mate.
2. What's your favorite book?
Do I have to pin it down to one book? Really.
Take your pick from one of the following:
Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Jeffrey Eugenides Middlesex
Louis de Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Sarah Winman's Still Life
Hanya Yanigahara's A Little Life
J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series. (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkban is my favourite)
Ian McEwan's Atonement
Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet
3. What's your favorite color?
One of the following:
Pillarbox Red
Jade Green
Peacock Blue
4. What's your favorite dessert?
Pretty much anything with vanilla or lemon. So, give me galaktoboureko, or vanilla slice, or any sort of vanilla ice cream, or a lemon meringue pie and I'm happy.
5. What's your favorite drink?
Non-Alcoholic - Coffee
Alcoholic - Gin and tonic
6. What's your favorite food?
Mum's roast lamb. Nothing comes close (though Jonella and Stav made me an awesome dinner of roast lamb last week, though nothing like Mum's it was fantastic).
7. What's your favorite hobby?
I have lots of hobbies, from knitting to reading to taking photos. I love them all the same.
8. What's your favorite movie?
Again, just one? Pick from one of these:
Three Colours: Blue
Casablanca
The Breakfast Club
Lost in Translation
Pulp Fiction
Best in Show
Their Finest
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Branagh's Henry V
9. What's your favorite restaurant?
My favourite restaurant, a little French bistro closed down a few months ago, so I'm looking for a new favourite. In Melbourne, one of my favourites is Cumulus Inc. Then again, for cheap and cheerful, I keep going back to the Vinh Ky for Vietnamese/Chinese food. I love Mejico for Mexican food and Hector's Deli for sandwiches.
10. What's your favorite sandwich?
Hector's Deli's Mushie Melt or the Ruebens they do at Cafe D'Lish in Caulfield.
11. What's your favorite season?
Autumn - or Fall to the Americans. I love the changing of the colours.
12. What's your favorite series?
Favourite series? At the moment I'm loving Bridgerton. It's the perfect mindless escapist television. From days before Six Feet Under, The West Wing, Lucifer and Suits come to mind.
13. What's your favorite snack?
Potato chips. Particularly salt and vinegar or cheese and onion chips. Never chicken or barbeque.
14. What's your favorite sport to watch?
Do I have to watch sport? If I am watching sport, it's only in snippets and it's either a quarter of Australian Rules Football, a couple of overs of cricket or a few minutes of Rugby Union (not league).
15. What's your favorite thing to have for breakfast?
Eggs - preferably poached on toast, or Eggs Atlantic - which is Eggs Benedict which swaps out the ham or bacon for smoked salmon.
It is wonderful to be surprised by a film. Perfect Days took my breath away. It is a seemingly quiet little film that packs an incredible wallop. What's more amazing is that for the first hour of the film there's next to no dialogue, and what is spoken is in Japanese (with subtitles). And yes, I was happy to go and see this at the local art house cinema, particularly as Wim Wenders wrote and directed the film.
Hirayama (Koji Yakosho) is a man of strict habits. He wakes, makes his futon, he dresses, cleans his teeth, gets ready to fact the day, grabs a can of coffee from the machine outside his door and goes to his work as a cleaner of Tokyo's public toilets. He barely says a word to anybody. He doesn't his work willingly, showing a great sense of pride. He loves his music, which he plays on cassettes in his van as he goes from job to job around Tokyo. He shows a great deal of patience as he deals with his rambunctious workmate, Taskashi (Tokio Emoto). He reads old classics bought at second-hand bookstores. He eats at the same food concessions and goes to the same laundromat and bar on the weekends, to which he rides his bike.
It's only when some happenings change his routine do we get to more about this humble, yet enigmatic man.
And I will say no more about the plot, which feels non-existent until you work out that watching Hirayama going through his day is a meditation on life in itself. You don't really know what happened to him to put him in this situation (I mean, he's reading Faulkner, he's unfailingly kind, and yes, he has boundaries, but he is generous). The last five minutes of the film, where he drives around in his van are a masterpiece in character acting.
This is an awesome film on so many fronts, from the unexpected cinematography to the views of a very unseen Toyko, to the second half of the film where a number of occurrences take Hirayama out of his comfort zone, only to let him self-reflect on his life and the world arounds.
This is Wim Wenders' love song to a Tokyo that is rarely shown. It's a love song to the simple man who is happy with his lot. And it pays a great deal of attention to the tapes that live in his car, giving we Generation X viewers a great deal of nostalgia.
Perfect Days is on wide release at the art house cinemas around town. It's been out for a while.
Catch this before it leaves the cinemas. It is an absolute gem.
I gave into the fact that I'm a creative decades ago. There's something in my makeup which means I have to be doing something that produces something, whether that be writing, or knitting, or making a cake, or taking photos. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as I'm producing something. This blog is a testament to this. I know it's a silly blog, but it's me producing something on a daily basis.
One of my little creative endeavours is producing black and white photographs. I normally do this every day for one month during the year with varying degrees of success.
I am not a photographer.
I shoot on my iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro), then use an Instagram filter (Always Inkwell, never Moon), often fiddling with the brightness, contrast and structure.
And I put them up.
Albert Street, evening, Melbourne
There's no rhyme or reason to the photos. I just like taking them.
Kate, Beach, just outside of Apollo Bay
When finding subjects for the black and whites, I look for texture. I don't spend a lot of time constructing the photos. Sometimes something catches my eye, I'll point and snap and Bob's your uncle.
Date night, Southbank, Melbourne
It really amazes me how much joy producing these shots provides. I know that technically they're not great photos. I'm not trained in any way. I just do these to please me. Selfish, eh?
Miffy Snow Globes, Hema, Paris
It's fun to work in another medium.
Randoms, Southwark tube station, London
I'll keep doing it. It takes no time, and it brings me joy.
The Play: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
The Company: The Red Stitch Actor's Theatre
The Theatre: The Comedy Theatre, Exhibition Street.
Until 21 July
Stars: 4.5
I was a bit reticent about going to see this huge play, on a school night. I remember seeing the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor film version of this when I was at university and not being overly enamoured with the play, but at the time I wasn't up for empathising with the play's dysfunctional relationship. Then I have some memories of doing scenes from this in drama class back in the day when I did drama classes (yes, another string to my bow). Strangely, I found myself whispering the lines of the first ten minutes of the play.
Anyway, the ticket has been bought, arrangements were made, the cat got fed - I'd give it a go. It's three hours - it won't kill me, I told myself.
Holy Fuck! This is a FABULOUS production.
Seriously, I can't pick holes in this - it's too good. Pitch perfect. Tragically, deeply darkly funny. Spot on timing. Excellent performances. Just wow.
For those who've not discovered this play in the past, it tells the story of George (David Whiteley) and Martha (Kat Stewart), a middle-aged couple with a few "issues" who invite a younger couple, Nick (Harvey Zielinski) and Honey (Emily Goddard) over for drinks after a party at Martha's father's place to witness the fun and games.
And all hell ensues.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a wordy play. There are a lot of word play, inside jokes and round the houses conversations which elicit more information about the main characters as the play goes on. The first act is uncomfortably funny as the four characters drink themselves into oblivion and open up a number of wounds. The second act, also funny, sets off a series of events that lead to the final act, which is tragic almost to the point of Shakespeare.
It is magic what they've done here. Kat Steward and David Whiteley are excellent as the bickering Martha and George. Stewart's feline grace adds a menacing air, while Whiteley's near stoic reactions to Martha's goading is her perfect foil. Their relationship is volatile and toxic, relying on a lot of game play to keep them together. Nick and Honey are unwitting guests. Emily Goddard's Honey provides some of the lighter and funnier moments.
One of the best things about this production is the accents. The cast are spot on with their New England drawls - not a flat Australian vowel in sight. I find badly performed accents incredibly distracting. All four actors were flawless in their delivery.
Sarah Goodes, who has been directing for the Melbourne Theatre Company, keeps the pace on this tight. There is no room for error, and her cast have the material well under control. This is a three-hour play (with two intervals) It didn't feel like it. The play went incredibly quickly.
This is the first time the Red Stitch Theatre have transferred a play onto a main Melbourne stage, normally playing out of a theatre in St Kilda. The proscenium arch format frames this angst-ridden party perfectly. Set in the sixties, complete with my grandparent's doorbell and settee, everything is set up for a good night of theatre.
I came out of the theatre into the cold Melbourne night knowing that this is a little bit of theatrical magic
This comes highly recommended. Tickets are selling fast.
My vacuum cleaner has officially died. It's been going through its death throws for months, but today, after asking the poor old thing to suck, it did nothing. The nozzle and hose were not blocked. The bag wasn't full. It's just died.
I obtained it from a share house nearly 20 years ago. I have a feeling the old Werthheim was about that age when I was gifted it. I will miss it.
Owning a cat, I need a hoover, as I call them, having lived a long time in Britain. And the floors were awful and really needed a clean. And rather than wait, I got online.
Where do you go. In days of old, I would have gone to Godfreys, but they are all but in receivership at the moment.
I wish it had broken down in the week before as all of the End of Financial Year sales were on.
In the end, despairing at the state of the floors, I turned to the evil Amazon and found a new one. Affordable. Good reviews. Bagless. Cordless. Light. With free delivery in under 24 hours.
I don't know myself. The floors are clean. If I'm honest, the new one isn't quite as strong a sucker as the old one, but it will do.
My colleague asked me if I was going to get a Dyson. Ah no, for two reasons. First of all, everybody I know who has a Dyson has to get it fixed regularly. Secondly, I've got my name on my mother's Dyson - but that is probably a few years before it comes my way.
Anyway, that's my big news for the day. New hoover.
