(Untitled)

Courtesy of Evol Kween comes this rather fun meme, which struck me as an excellent way to waste 10 minutes at work on a Wednesday. Here's what you do.

A) Grab your iPod.
B) Set it to shuffle.
C) Use the names of the songs that come up in order to answer the following questions.

Easy huh? Here we go...

1. What does next year have in store for me? ‘The Wobbly Mammoth’

2. What’s my love life like? ‘So Many Ways’

3. What do I say when life gets hard? ‘Headcleaner’

4. What do I think of on waking up? ‘Cane and Rice’

5. What song will I dance to at my wedding? ‘Mary Jo’

6. What do I want as a career? ‘Whistle Down the Wind’

7. My favorite saying? ‘Everybody’s Song’

8. Favorite place? ‘Where the World Begins and Ends '

9. What do I think of my parents? ‘Redford (For Yia-Yia and Pappou)’

10. What’s my porn star name? ‘Moonlight’

11. Where would I go on a first date? ‘Over’

12. Drug of choice? ‘Mesmerism’

13. Describe myself: ‘Je ne veux pas quitter’

14. What is the thing I like doing most? ‘Halloween’

15. What is my state of mind like at the moment? ‘Everyone Kisses a Stranger’

16. How will I die? ‘Love Song’

And the artists are, from 1 - 16: - Beatrix, Mates of State, Einsteurzende Neubauten, Sodastream, Belle and Sebastian, Tom Waits, Low, The Dears, Sufjan Stevens, Mono, Portishead, Dead Can Dance, Francoiz Breut, Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd, Francoiz Breut (again!), and finally - and rather appropriately - The Cure.

So - that was cryptic but fun. And quite truthful at time: my career does feel like I've always been blown by the winds of fate; judging by recent Zombie activity Halloween could well be the thing I like doing most; and while I'm not quite sure what 'Je ne veux pas quitter' means (I think t means something along the lines of 'I am not a quitter' it seems rather appropriate to have as a personal description of myself. And finally, I rater like knowing that I'll die while in love...

MIFF part one

I'm rather time-poor at the moment, so my MIFF reviews will be of necessity rather brief. That said, here are some words on the handful of films I've managed to see so far...

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD





















Had this opening night doco about the Ozploitation era been 15 minutes shorter, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it was, I felt the film outstayed its welcome, with the last half hour or so definitely dragging a little.

Conversely, the pace in its opening half was fantastic: a dynamic, scattergun approach to documentary making. Great to be reminded of the many Ozploitation films I've already seen (either on video circa 1985, the year I moved out of home, such as Dead End Drive-In; or on television a few years earlier) and to have my appetite whetted for the many more I've not seen yet.

Thereafter a pretty cool opening night party, although not enough food, which meant as a consequence that I was hungover as all fuck the next day - though the fact that I didn't leave the after-party until about 4am may also have been a factor...


BE LIKE OTHERS














This documentary about GLBT life in Iran has a very specific, almost too narrow focus, in that it looks at a small number of gay men who 'voluntarily' undergo gender reassignment to live as women: the options otherwise are to flee Iran or face probable execution, given the Islamic state's well-demonstrated antipathy towards homsexuality.

Though we meet a lesbian woman who is also considering the procedure at the start of the film, we don't follow her story; nor does the film-maker speak to any actual transgendered people to get their perspective on the issue. These flaws aside, this is a powerful - and deeply depressing - documentary, and definitely one I'd recommend.


DIARY OF THE DEAD













The latest film from George A Romero continues his series of horror movies in which the living dead are used as metaphors to explore current social issues. In his first film, Night of the Living Dead, it was the political unrest of the 1960s; in the more recent Land of the Dead it was the 'fortress America' attitude of the USA post September 11.

Diary of the Dead is very much about the media as monster: specifically new media, such as blogs and YouTube. It's not always a successful film; indeed Romero's attitudes towards new media struck me as slightly conservative, even reactionary, while some of the dialogue spouted by the 20-something film student characters definitely doesn't sound contemporary. Nonetheless, I was more than prepared to forgive these faults and enjoy the film, which relies primarily on CGI effects rather than Romero's more traditional physical effects: and which as a consequence includes a bravura sequence involving acid and a zombie's slowly-dissolving head. Bravo!


BASTARDY















Rather than utilising a more traditional documentary structure (ie voiceovers, talking heads etc), this film about the 63-year old, gay Aboriginal elder, cat burglar, award-winning actor and former junkie Jack Charles is an appropriately impressionistic study of a truly original character. We see Charles sleeping rough and shooting up; hear him talking matter-of-factly about personal tragedies and heartbreak; and laugh with him as he stands outside a Kew house he's burgled 11 times. While some might criticise the film-maker for getting too close to his subject, I think it's resulted in a much more illuminating and engaging film; one that presents a life literally as it's being lived, rather than a more detached observational documentary.


JOHNNY MAD DOG














Although not for the faint-hearted, this searing, fictionalised account of child soldiers in an unnamed African civil war stands heads and shoulders above the other films I've seen at MIFF so far. By juxtaposing the most horrific acts with truly sublime and visionary cinematography, the film ensures than you cannot, will not forget the images it displays. Nor will you forget the tragedy of children being forced at gunpoint to kill their own parents, or seeing the natural exuberance of teenage boys channelled into acts of extreme, drug-fuelled violence. Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire has crafted a truly stunning work of cinema that I wholeheartedly recommend, even as I warn that you will find it difficult viewing.

Hanging out with George Romero

I promise to start blogging properly about MIFF soon, but for now, here's a small taste of what the last couple of days have been like: myself and George Romero sharing a laugh after recording an interview at Three Triple R earlier this morning (photo by Donna Morabito). God I love my life!

And here (pix by Jim Lee) are some shots from last Saturday night's premiere screening of the new Romero film, Diary of the Dead. After the recent Zombie Shuffle, the festival had asked Clem and I to arrange for some zombies to turn up to the premiere, for a photo opp with George. As you can see, we had quite a turn-out!

In the foyer of the Capitol before the screening - I'm the white-faced zombie to Romero's left (photo by Jim Lee)

At the Q+A after the screening (photo by Jim Lee).

Coming Out of the Bat Closet

At some stage in the next few days I'll hopefully find time to blog about the last three productions I've seen over the last week: Bell Shakespeare's Hamlet, Matthew Bourne's 'dance-ical' Edward Scissorhands, and Yana Alana and the Paranas in Bite Me Harder.

Today though, my brain in mush, so instead, I'm going to point you towards a fascinating essay on Batman's gay past.

A Batman who continued to live in 1945 was an economic liability in 1955. He was a threat to the family and to the bottom-line. Batman's "gayness," then, was a flash point for a larger set of social anxieties. Just as elites worked aggressively to purge society and government of homosexuality, so too did DC purge Batman of any social deficiency which could be interpreted or construed as "gay."

Was it enough? To satisfy the most vocal critics, yes. But, ironically, the move to surrealism and fantasy also pushed Batman into the territory of high camp, in which Batman's ostensibly heterosexual romances were suspiciously unbelievable.

Enjoy!

Being Human

At some point I should blog about recently turning 41 and the way my birthday slipped past me like a ship in the night; or the superb season four finale of Doctor Who; perhaps the MIAF program, launched last night, which Alison has already blogged about in generous detail; or this year's MIFF program, which I've now finished digesting which means I can map out my film viewing for the next few weeks.

But no.

Instead, I'm going to alert those of you who don't already know about it to a fantastic new-ish (it aired in February) TV program from the UK that's sure to whet the appetites of anyone who's A) ever lived in a share household, B) wants to know what out gay actor Russell Tovey (Rudge in the film of The History Boys, and Midshipman Frame in Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned) is up to, career-wise, and C) like myself enjoys sinking their teeth into genre shows with a supernatural bent.

Readers, meet Being Human.

In February, the show's pilot screened on BBC Three, to much acclaim and fanboy slavering. Then in April, a six-part series was commissioned, to be screened next year.

But what's it all about, I hear you ask? Let me quote from the media release:

Starring Russell Tovey, Andrea Riseborough and Guy Flanagan, the pilot of Being Human followed the lives of three flatmates – a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost – in a witty, sexy and extraordinary look at the friendship between three 20-something outsiders trying to find their way in an enticing, yet complicated world.

I've just finished watching the pilot episode, which has utterly captivated me. It's not without its faults, but overall it's extremely engaging. The characters are well drawn and extremely sympathetic, and the premise for the show's drama is strong and consistent. If you'd like to see what I'm talking about, I've posted the first part of the pilot episode below; you can find the rest of it on YouTube, here. Enjoy!

Burn, heretic, burn

So, at the massive Catholic mass that officially opened World Youth Day in Sydney yesterday, Our Glorious Leader KRudd said:

"Some say there is no place for faith in the 21st century. I say they are wrong. Some say faith is the enemy of reason, I say also they are wrong. They are great partners, rich in history and scientific progress."

Yeah, right, Kevin. Tell that to Galileo.

REVIEW: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

1927 is an English cabaret company, whose acclaimed Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is currently being performed at the Malthouse Theatre here in Melbourne. The show, an inspired blend of silent film homage and delightfully gothic spoken word, is a singular delight, and one I strongly recommend for film buffs and theatre afficianados alike.

The concept of the show is deceptively simple: two performers (writer/director Suzanne Andrade and Esme Appleton, both appropriately dressed in Louise Brooks mode) perform on stage against a backdrop of scratchy, flickering silent film-inspired projections by Paul Barritt, to a live piano score by Lillian Henley. I say deceptively simple, because the timing required to make the show work - for voices to speak in unison and for performers to match their movements to the images and sets projected on and behind them - clearly requires significant labour.

There's a wonderful, playful sense of the grotesque permeating the show, as well as a clear love of the tropes of silent cinema and the entertainments of the day. From a Perils of Pauline like moment with a character tied struggling to a train track (perfectly evoked with the simplest of animation) to the chilling yet hillarious image of a menacing army of gingerbread men, the visions presented by 1927 are twisted, grand and glorious. Nor are all their stories firmly rooted in the past; as references to Mr Squiggle, and another story in which the bored children of the upper middle class play act being homeless crack whores, delightfully illustrate.

From unexpected lunacy (a piano-playing proboscis monkey) to menacing and monstrous children whose macabre games shatter the fourth wall, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a thorough delight, whose any major fault is that it ends so soon after it begins. I highly recommend that you visit the Malthouse post-haste before its all-too-brief season ends on July 13.

Love, Life and Art: The films of Derek Jarman

Derek Jarman on the set of 'Caravaggio'

Derek Jarman was a true renaissance man.

Through his books, his paintings and especially his films, the English artist and activist was an eloquent and passionate spokesman for gay rights at a time when Britain’s conservative government, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was doing its best to stamp out gay culture forever.

In 1988, even as an entire generation of gay men were being ravaged by the AIDS crisis, Thatcher’s government introduced a notorious piece of legislation, Section 28; which forbade ‘the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’.

But instead of silencing gays and lesbians the introduction of Section 28 galvanised them; uniting a community that until then had largely been divided along gender lines, and prompting the largest queer rights demonstrations the UK had ever seen.

It was in these turbulent times that Jarman’s creativity was at its peak, as a new documentary about his life and work, to be shown at the Melbourne International Film Festival later this month, so aptly demonstrates.

Derek, directed by Issac Julien and narrated by the Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton, is a fitting and long overdue testimony to Jarman’s life and prolific output. (By the time he died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994, just a few short years after being canonised by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Jarman had made more than 50 short films and features.)

“You were the first person I met who could gossip about St Thomas Aquinas and hold a steady camera at the same time,” Swinton says in voiceover in the documentary, in an open letter to Jarman, with whom she worked on a number of films.

“I thought it would be good to hang out with you for six weeks: I guess we had things to say. Our outfit was an internationalist brigade. Decidedly pre-industrial. A little loud, a lot louche. Not always in the best possible taste. And not quite fit, though it saddened and maddened us to recognise it, for wholesome family entertainment.”

Jarman’s feature films may not have been considered ‘wholesome’ in their day, but the director’s unique blending of his artistic sensibility and overt gay sexuality has ensured that they will long be remembered and celebrated.

In works such as Edward II (about the openly gay English king of the same name, adapted from the play by Christopher Marlowe, a gay contemporary of William Shakespeare) and Caravaggio (a biopic of the bisexual 16th century rogue and artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) Jarman’s unique aesthetic is lucidly and beautifully displayed.

Caravaggio was a poet of the low-life who employed pimps and prostitutes as the models for the saints and angels he painted so lovingly; an artist whose work captivated the Italian society of the day even as his unconventional life shocked and scandalised them. As Jarman told the English newspaper The Guardian in 1986, “[Caravaggio] burnt away decorum and the ideal...knocked the saints out of the sky and onto the streets...his St John pictures are a succession of male nudes - straight forward physique photographs.”

In making Caravaggio, which is released on DVD this week, Jarman strove to capture the Italian painter’s innovative style as much as he sought to explore his unorthodox life. The film is shot in the way Caravaggio would have painted it, with lovingly lit scenes in which the painter’s works come to life on the screen; and narrated by Caravaggio himself (played by Nigel Terry) as he lies on his death bed, reflecting on his art and recalling his ménage à trois with the bare-knuckle boxer Ranuccio (Sean Bean) and Ranuccio’s girlfriend, the prostitute Lena (Tilda Swinton).

The deliberate inclusion of anachronisms - courtiers in doublets pounding away at upright typewriters, the sound of a train passing through a medieval city – ensures the story’s twined themes of creativity and passion are eternal.

Even as he himself was dying, Jarman found time to reflect on these themes anew, and their relevance to his own rich life.

“I am tired tonight. My eyes are out of focus, my body droops under the weight of the day, but as I leave you Queer lads let me leave you singing,” Jarman wrote in his 1992 autobiography, At Your Own Risk. “I had to write of a sad time as a witness – not to cloud your smiles – please read the cares of the world that I have locked in these pages; and after, put this book aside and love. May you of a better future, love without a care, and remember we loved too. As the shadows closed in, the stars came out.

“I am in love.”

Derek Jarman’s films Caravaggio and Wittgenstein are out now on DVD through Umbrella Entertainment.

Isaac Julian’s documentary about Jarman, Derek, screens at the Melbourne International Film Festival later this month.

This article originally appeared in MCV #391 on Thursday July 3.

La Mama reaches halfway mark

La Mama is a little over half way to reaching its fundraising target of $1.7 million required to secure the purchase of their Faraday St home in Carlton after receiving generous donations of $350,000 from Jeanne Pratt of The Pratt Foundation and $250,000 from the Sidney Myer Fund.

La Mama’s Artistic Director Liz Jones said, “We are absolutely thrilled to receive such generous contributions from two of Melbourne’s leading philanthropic Funds. These financial contributions provide us with more hope that we will reach our target at this crucial time however we still need to raise another $700,000 to secure the purchase of our Faraday St home by settlement day Tuesday 2^nd September 2008. A lot of people in the community think that La Mama has already been saved but we unfortunately still have quite a way to go.”

The Minister for the Arts, Lynne Kosky MP, recently announced that the Victorian State Government will contribute $150,000 to La Mama’s cause. With the generosity of over 300 friends of La Mama and industry members, the deposit of $170,000 was raised and paid on May 27, 2008.

La Mama has also received very promising responses following discussions with The Melbourne City Council and a number of other philanthropic organisations and is still optimistic of receiving significant contributions from these sources.

However, as there remains a considerable shortfall to reach the target required within a short timeframe, La Mama still requires all the financial help available.

La Mama, has occupied the iconic building in Faraday St in the heart of Carlton since 1967. For the last 40 years the building has been rented from a local Melbourne family. The matriarch (and much-loved La Mama supporter) Rose died late last year and the Executors of her Estate notified La Mama that they wanted to sell the building offering La Mama first option. Recently the Executors of the Estate accepted La Mama’s offer of $1.7 million.

Founded in 1967 by Betty Burstall after she visited La Mama in New York, La Mama has been an incubator for many big names in Australian theatre with its alumni including national treasures such as Jack Hibberd, David Williamson, Cate Blanchett and Richard Frankland to name a few.

To make a donation or for more information on how you can help secure La Mama’s future please contact Liz Jones on tel. 03 9347 6948, mobile 0412 909 077 or liz@lamama.com.au. Donations are fully tax deductible.

And in other cinema news

According to his page on the Internet Movie Database, Scottish actor James McAvoy is set to play Bilbo Baggins in the screen adaptation of The Hobbit to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Anyone heard anything more concrete on this?

Why I want to see THE DARK KNIGHT more than ever

Why? This review by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone:

"The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams."

That's why.

Look: Who's back

Under the guidance of writer/producer Russell T Davies, Doctor Who is queerer than ever, says Richard Watts.

In 2003, when the BBC announced that Russell T Davies, the creator of Queer as Folk, was to be put in charge of a new series of Doctor Who, few would have expected that the revived science fiction series about an alien wanderer in time and space would become one of the most lauded television programmes of the 21st century.

But not only did the new Doctor Who become a runaway success – inspiring two spin-off series to date in the child-friendly The Sarah Jane Adventures and the far darker, adult-oriented Torchwood; as well as generating critical and popular acclaim – it’s also become one of the most inclusive television programmes ever made in terms of representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and gender-fluid characters on-screen.

Anyone who has watched the last three seasons of Doctor Who will be familiar with some of the elements Davies has brought to the show; most notably the roguish, sexually-omnivorous Captain Jack Harkness, a Time Agent turned conman from the 51st Century, played by openly gay actor John Barrowman.

According to Davies, the inclusion of Captain Jack (first introduced in the 2005 story ‘The Empty Child’) was a deliberate attempt to subvert the usual depiction of bisexuality on television.

“I thought: ‘It’s time you introduce bisexuals properly into mainstream television,’” he recently told the New York Times. “The most boring drama would be – ‘Oh, I’m bisexual, oh my bleeding heart’ night-time drama. Tedious, dull. But if you say it’s a bisexual space pirate swaggering in with guns and attitude and cheek and humour into primetime family viewing - that was enormously attractive to me.”

Such characters aside, what’s the attraction of a programme like Doctor Who for lesbian and gay viewers? According to occasional MCV contributor and Sensis film critic Tim Hunter, it’s the titular character’s outsider status.

“It’s about the fact that he seems like an outsider from the rest of society. As a 13 year old boy who hadn’t quite come to terms with his sexuality yet, I just found that quite appealing,” Hunter says.

“The reason Doctor Who as a character has gay appeal is because he doesn’t necessarily identify with regular people; and I think a lot of gay men growing up tend to identify with that, because they too, including myself, feel like we’re outside of society; not quite the same as everyone else. The Doctor is like that too, but he embraces it … and I think there’s a lesson there for gay men; that being different isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And I think that’s become even more [pronounced] in this new series that Russell T Davies has been doing,” he concludes.

As well as introducing queer characters such as the omnisexual Captain Jack and the transgendered ‘last human’, the Lady Cassandra, Davies has also injected a gay sensibility into the programme; typified by the 2007 Christmas special, Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned.

The movie-length episode, which screens on ABC 1 this Sunday night, features gay icon Kylie Minogue in a story which references such camp delights as 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure and the 1997 film, Titanic, leavened with a healthy dash of science fiction.

“Kylie is probably my favourite guest we’ve had. Having her on the show was amazing. Just having her working with us was brilliant,” an enthusiastic Davies told Welsh newspaper the Swansea Evening Post earlier this month.

As well as La Minogue, Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned also stars out gay actor Russell Tovey (best known for his role as the sports-loving Rudge in the film The History Boys), and features a subplot involving marriage rights for androids: a clear reference to the on-going debate around same-sex marriage.

Gay and lesbian characters also feature regularly in the programme’s fourth season, which starts on the ABC next week; a situation which has some fans up in arms about what they describe as Davies’ “gay agenda”.

“[I]t’s completely over-egging the series to have throwaway gay references all over the place just to give the show a PC, all-inclusive feel,” rants poster ‘Spud McSpud’ on the pop-culture website Ain’tItCoolNews.com. “[Davies] seems to want to portray in new Who the idea that there are gay/bi people in every walk of life, everywhere you go!”

Not everyone is so opposed to the regular representation of same-sex attracted characters on Doctor Who, however.

“[Davies] takes Doctor Who and pushes the envelope the whole time, not in terms of taste and decency but in terms of ideas and emotional intelligence, the size of feeling and epic stroke of narrative breadth,” Jane Tranter, the BBC’s head of fiction, told the New York Times last week.

No-one at the BBC had a problem with Captain Jack, or with any of Davies’s plotlines, she added.

“How ridiculous would it be that you would travel through time and space and only ever find heterosexual men?”

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned screens on ABC 1 this Sunday June 29 at 7:30pm. Season Four of Doctor Who commences the following week.

This article originally appeared in MCV #390 on Thursday June 26.

Doctor Who Season Four Finale - SPOILERS!!!

This pic is a promo image for the final two-parter for the current season four of Doctor Who. Fanboy heaven or what?

Circus Oz 30th Birthday Bash

Last night saw saw the opening night of the 30th Birthday Bash for Circus Oz; the latest show under the company's Leunig-inspired big top in Birrarung Marr. A 30th birthday is no mean achievement for anyone, let alone a circus company which prides itself on its committment to social justice as much as daring and jaw-dropping physical feats, which is why last night's show was such a delight.

Even occasional first night nerves resulting in dropped juggling clubs and missed tumbles (of which, to be fair, there were only a few) and a couple of events that, placed back-to-back, saw the pace of the show drop off slightly, couldn't detract from the atmosphere or the spirit of the night, helped along by a jovial and noisy crowd packed under the canvas to witness an array of predominantly new acts.

Having spoken last week with Circus Oz's Artistic Director Mike Finch, I know the temptation was there to present a 'greatest hits' package; but instead, thanks to new funding which enables the company to now hold an extended circus lab development each year, there were heaps of new acts, brought to life by a range of new performers. There were also some spectacular old tricks slipped into the show as well; including the group bike, and a wonderfully-reworked contortion act, and a simply fantastic inverted routine in film noir style, in which a tough guy walks into a bar, sits at a table, pours himself a drink and soliliquizes - all performed suspended upside down from the roof.

Other highlights included some superb clowning and juggling routines; a breathtaking and beautiful Frankenstein-inspired act performed on aerial straps; a joyous jumble of kangaroo-clad acrobats aboard the teeterboard; the addition of inline skating for the first time in a Circus Oz show; and the most outstanding chair-balancing act which morphed into a magnificent, achingly beautiful static double trapeze routine: truly the highlight of the show.

If you've never seen Circus Oz before, this is definitely a production to see: a marvellous modern circus show that will thrill, amaze and entertain in equal measure. And if you have seen the company before, what better time to go back than for their 30th Birthday Bash?

Bravo, Circus Oz!

At last, I do

AP Photo/Eric Risberg

After a long legal battle, gay and lesbian couples in California were legally allowed to marry as of 5:01pm on Monday June 16.

Del Martin (pictured, left) and Phyllis Lyon, who have been together for 50 years, became the first couple to wed; and were married by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (standing behind them) at City Hall.

Martin and Lyon were co-founders of the first major lesbian organisation in the USA, the Daughters of Bilitis, in 1955. The couple have a long and proud history of fighting for women’s rights.

“When we first got together, we were not really thinking about getting married, we were thinking about getting together,” Lyon told a crowd of cheering supporters as the pair cut their wedding cake. “I think it's a wonderful day.”

Of course, not everyone is happy about this, as the following media release from the Westboro Baptist Church makes abundantly clear:


You know, somehow I kinda think they've forgotten that bit in the Bible about 'God is love'...

What do we want? BRAINS! When do we want it? BRAINS!

The 3rd annual Melbourne Zombie Shuffle was held today, and what a fantastic day it was! Big shout-outs to the lovely Ms Clem (pictured to my left, above, and also below) who got the whole rotting ball rolling, and whose company made for a great day out in the company of an undead horde that was at least 500 strong.


We came; we saw; we shambled, drooled, moaned, lurched and generally had a ball. Next year we'll be back, bigger and more cadaverous than ever!

You can read all about it on NineMSM.com - and even see a video featuring Clem and yours truly! And yes, more photos coming soon...

Secrets

I am all a-quiver with excitement about the program for this year's Melbourne International Arts Festival, having attended a media briefing at the festival office on Wednesday, but unfortunately I am bound to secrecy and cannot, nay, must not blog about its contents for another month.

Suffice to say that Kristy's final festival program, her fourth, looks fantastic; with an array of local and international guests that already has me salivating. Sadly I'll have to miss the festival's last five days, as I'll be jaunting off to Morocco, but I reckon I'll be able to squeeze in a fair bit of fun before I go!

Melbourne International Arts Festival: October 9 - 25 2008

Life is a sexually transmitted terminal disease

Since I dislike blog posts that start as apologies for not posting much lately (and why should I apologise? This is, after all, a blog kept primarily for my own amusement.) I won't start this post like that.

Instead, I might start it by sulking over the fact that I didn't get the Creative Fellowship at the State Library of Victoria I applied for earlier this year. I suspect I won't receive the Arts Victoria grant I've applied for either, being a pesemistic sort; which kind of throws a spanner in the works as far as my plans for the second half of the year go.

The grant and the Fellowship were all part of my plan to quit my job and refocus, at long last, on my creative writing, prior to my Morocco trip in October, but it looks like I'll have to come up with another plan instead. Bugger it.

On the plus side, I'm slowly re-adjusting to living on my own, and have started breaking a number of bad habits that I fell into during the last few years; ie, I've rediscovered my kitchen and have actually cooked regularly over the last couple of weeks since Mike moved out, instead of spending all my money on takeaway from the local Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese and Italian restaurants. I'm also drinking and drugging less.

God, don't tell my I'm finally starting to act my age?

Oh yes, I've also been out on a singular, uneventful, and certainly not leading anywhere date, but as it was, frankly, a bit of a non-event, I fail to see the point in blogging about it. Besides, I don't kiss and tell: not unless there's actually something worth telling, that is...

I've also seen a few movies in recent weeks that I haven't posted about: Iron Man, which was pretty dull; Prince Caspian, which was a definite improvement on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but still lacked any real zest, imagination or passion (I direct the blame squarely at director Andrew Adamson, who also co-wrote the screenplay for both Chronicles of Narnia films to date: thankfully Michael Apted is directing the third film in the franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so it may actually be a decent film); and today, The Orphanage, which was actually scary, subtle and intelligent. Of course, an American studio will probably re-make it, and spoil it in the process, but such is life...

You'll note I haven't seen any theatre of late. (Apologies to anyone who's come here from the Malthouse Theatre Company's website expecting plentiful and detailed theatre reviews. Try Theatrenotes instead.) I'm not quite sure why. Possibly I became rather performanced-out post Comedy Festival? Not sure. There may be other reasons. Whatever the case, the last couple of months have seen me staying in a great deal, and watching a lot of old Doctor Who episodes on DVD, in between weekly installments of the latest series.

So, in summary, I've been rather introspective of late, but don't worry: I have no plans to do a Ms Fits and kill this blog off. But until such time as I find the enthusiasm to write in detail about things I've seen and done again, I suspect posts will continue in the recent vein: brief, sporadic and indicative of my current preoccupations and old obsessions.

That said, should by some freakish accident I actually manage to fall in love, or at the very least get laid, I'll blog about that, too. I promise!

Gobbledigook

In case you haven't already seen it, here's the new film clip for my favourite band in the world, Sigur Ros, for the song 'Gobbledigook', from their forthcoming album, með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.

The return of Captain Jack

He's rumoured to be making a return in the current UK series (season four) of Doctor Who, along with Rose (a "harder... sadder" version of her character, actor Billie Piper confirmed in a recent BBC interview) but it's now also confirmed that the dashing, devilish Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) will be back for the third season of Torchwood in 2008. No definite news yet on who is to flesh out the team following the tragic end of season two, however, though Mickey Smith and Martha Jones are both said to be possibilities.

According to this website, however, at this stage the BBC has only green-lit five one-hour specials of Torchwood, with no word yet on whether we can expect more episodes after that. This makes sense, in a way, as it parallels the current plans for Doctor Who in 2009, which will also see only a limited number of one-off episodes produced, in order to allow David Tennant time off to play Hamlet; with season five not scheduled to screen until 2010 (sob!).

Meanwhile in other Who news, the ABC has confirmed season four, starting with the Christmas special starting Kylie Minogue, Voyage of the Damned, will screen on Sunday June 29.

For the most up-to-date page of Who news around, you may like to visit Sylvester McCoy's site (yes, the seventh Doctor) but beware: spoilers abound!