MAN ABOUT TOWN

Directed by Min Kyu-dong, Antique ( Sayangkoldong yangkwajajeom aentikeu ) was a brave choice by the Melbourne Queer Film Festival programming team, which usually shows relatively safe crowd-pleasers on opening night to assist in fostering an appropriate vibe at the party following the screening. Unlike the usual bland fodder sometimes screened at opening nights (such as the dreadful Canadian feature Breakfast with Scot , shown two years ago; ironically, the year prior was one of the best opening night's ever, the excellent Truman Capote biopic, Infamous ) Festival Director Lisa Daniel and her team went with this high quality but more challenging film from Korea. Consequently, numbers were definitely down at the Astor on Wednesday night (some 200 less tickets were sold than in previous years), a situation which reinforced my view that - generally speaking - the gay community is inherently conservative (a view that's further bolstered by the domination of drag and house music...

Friday evening saw me dropping in at RRR for a quick drink with Kim Jurick, who's stepping down from the Music Coordinator's position he's held for a year; and receiving the excellent news that the station would like me to host its annual Intrepid Travel trip later this year. It was a huge surprise and an honour to be asked, and also a much-needed morale booster given that I've had the week from hell at work this week. The country we'll be visiting has yet to be determined, with Egypt, Morocco and Cuba all possible at this stage, as I undestand it. Budgeting and availability of flights and etc will whittle that list down to one country, but any of them would suit me! Any recommendations from you blog readers, please? Which of the three would you visit if you had the chance? Thereafter I headed back to Fitzroy for the opening night of Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Theatre Collective's The Dirty Mile . This interactive theatrical experience i...

Three days into this fortnight of Breakfast radio and I'm loving it. Rising at 4:50so far hasn't been too challenging, though this morning -post-Christmas conviviality - was a bit of a chore. Ah, Christmas. It was circa 1990 that I announced I was no longer celebrating Christmas on the basis that it was fundamentally a Christian capitalist feeding frenzy that at its core enshrined the heterosexual family above other social groups. Being neither religious or straight, and avowing anarchist politics at the time, I wanted nothing to do with Christmas, I said; telling my family that I would no longer be participating in their rituals, and that I neither wanted to be given nor intended to give, Christmas presents. Yes,I was rather an insufferable idealist in my mid-20's, if you hadn'talready guessed. I've mellowed since, but I confess that ever since those days, I've found it hard to re-engage with the spirit of Christmas, though I do still celebrate it in my own way...

Thanks to all who've wished me a happy birthday, either via text or blog comments. Hugs to you all; your kind thoughts and words are much appreciated. As birthdays go it was a remarkably subdued one: work from 8am - 5.30pm (which meant I just missed a phonecall from Kerryn in Hong Kong, dammit - hi babe!), a couple of glasses of champagne at home with Mum, and dinner - a delicious dinner - at Claypots in Gertrude Street. Bleak weather meant we scurried straight home afterwards, skipping on a movie, deciding instead to eat strawberry icecream, polish of the champagne, and watch the first episode of the 1984 British tv series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , which I just picked up on DVD. Jeremy Brett (left) was the quintessential Holmes, don't you think? To cap it off, I was in bed by 11pm. I must be getting old. I shall make up for it tonight, at a certain cocktail party-cum-wedding I'm going to, I assure you...

It's both surreal and unsettling when your housemate calls you at work at 9am to warn you not to go outside because there's a gunman on the loose . Despite the fact that three people were shot only a couple of blocks away from my office, and one of them has died, it still seems distant, somehow removed from the mundane reality of my day to day life. That said, I suddenly decided to put off going downstairs to get myself a smoothie for brunch...

Just home from dinner with friends: Darren (who proudly announced he'd purchased his first-ever hip-hop CD - this from Mr Indie-Boy, a big step indeed), Glen, who I haven't caught up with since he went to Mardi Gras, and his new bf. All rather lovely. Slept through the heat of the day after presenting SmartArts this morning, only to step outside this evening to discover it was still 33 degrees. Ick - where's autumn when you need it? The equinox was only yesterday, so I can't expect we'll immediately be plunged into crisp mornings and chilly nights, but dammit, we could at least have a hint of appropriate chill in the air. The last few weeks have seen me too busy to blog properly, which always makes me feel guilty. I don't know why, it's not like I have to blog, although I do enjoy leaving an electronic trail of my life and experiences for future biographers, should my life ever warrant such interest (unlikely, I posit, but a boy can dream). Have just had a q...

Cleaning out my spam folder, as is my periodical want, I discovered a media release advising me to FENG SHUI MY FRIDGE! "Your fridge needs to be organised and clean for the chi to flow unhindered, ensuring that it cannot become blocked and stagnant. All items over 6 months old should be thrown out and the inner shelves, drawers and walls of the fridge should be thoroughly cleansed of spills and any lingering bacteria." Try and guess where this media release originated... "Once sparkling clean, the fridge then needs to be packed with foods nourishing to the body. It is essential the food we eat is full with vital chi to bring a healthy balance and harmony to our bodies. Fill your fridge with lucky foods like fish and chicken for a prosperous 2007." I particularly love the combination of practical energy with feng shui advice, as typified by this next paragraph. "Red is the luckiest colour, symbolising fire to drive away the bad luck – so storage containers and ...

Sunday 11th September After a restless night's sleep (I was paranoid about oversleeping and missing my Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, because I don't own a watch or a travelling clock) I eventually climbed out of bed at 8am. I probably only had about two hours sleep all night, despite getting to bed at the relatively civilised (for Barcelona!) hour of 2am, and so consequently was a bit of a grouch for the rest of the day. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been a problem, except for the circumstances of my flight. Richard's travel tip #18: Don't catch a Sunday midday flight from Barcelona - the airport will be full of still-drunk, loudly boasting British lads who are returning home from a weekend of shagging and partying and conspiring about what lies to tell their girlfriends. Worse, flights from Barcelona to Dublin at this time are, according to an Aer Lingus stewardess, traditionally full of Spanish high school kids on their...