In Time (2011, d. Andrew Niccol)

So last year, I saw In Time and was horrimazed at what an absolute mess this movie was on just about every level possible. This belated post is to try and explain why, from a bunch of stream-of-consciousness notes (rants) I made at the time. 

Be warned: I'm just going to go ahead and spoil the whole movie for you. One, it's not possible to talk about the crazy badness of this film without discussing the details, and two, hopefully after reading this you'll not want to see it for yourself. Unless you happen to like complete trainwrecks, in which case I recommend you rent it for cheap, then down a few drinks beforehand if you don't want to be going "...what the - did they just - but that didn't make sense - really?!" every couple of minutes.

So you know you’re in for something awful with the first line - the first time (chortle) there’s a portentous use of the word ‘time' (and there will be many of these) - when we start with Justin Timberlake staring pensively (i.e. blankly) out a window. 

Oh JT. Such a great musician. Such a terrible actor. The king of literal choreography goes all out in his first starring role but is shown to be lacking within minutes of the start. In his face off against Matt Bomer, a quiet one-to-one scene in an abandoned warehouse, Bomer manages to convey more with one look in his pretty blue eyes than JT can even try with his whole body. 

In fact, Matt Bomer comes off best in this whole movie because he looks utterly gorgeous, he's only in this travesty for 5 minutes, and his last scene doesn't involve flinging his dying body into JT's arms so he can weep horribly and scream “NOOOOOO” dramatically to the sky (sorry Olivia Wilde). Vincent Kartheiser comes a close second, well cast and doing his best with the poor material as the cold, rich bastard dad of Amanda Seyfried's character. Of course, when one of your villains is the most logical, intelligent and relatable person in the whole movie, you have problems...oh, and what problems they are!

Apart from JT being so wooden and unconvincing as an actor, Seyfried looks like she’s here only to pick up a pay check in a bad wig. But that might not be all her fault - she's been given absolutely nothing to do as her character, Sylvia, is entirely underwritten as the clichéd sheltered rich girl longing for some excitement in life. When excitement supposedly comes in the form of being Stockholm’d into a Bonnie-and-Clyde lite relationship, it's unfortunate JT and Amanda having zero chemistry. The relationship comes out of nowhere except for the fact it’s scripted and it’s literally laughable - when they mechanically move into place to kiss for the first time, the only thing I could do was giggle incredulously, as did the two rows of people behind me in the cinema. Even more unfortunately, JT has more chemistry with Olivia Wilde, who plays his mother. 

Wait, there’s more! On top of the bad acting, there's odd choppy editing, really terrible lines (poor Cillian Murphy - completely wasted as a character whose incomprehensible motivations waver all over the place - has to utter inane gems such as “I'm a timekeeper...I keep time”), the egregious mis- and overuse of the word time ALL OF THE TIME, and some completely random characters for god knows what reason. Alex Pettyfer as the only British gangster in an Ohio ghetto in a ridiculous and unnecessary subplot - why not? Johnny Galecki, hopelessly miscast as an unbelievable 25-year-old alcoholic - hey, this cast can't look uniformly hot! 

But even more than these sins, this movie hurt me most, deep in my soul, because there was absolutely no internal logic or consistency. Niccol (the Australian writer and director) blow his wad trying to set up and exposit this complex world of rules using time as currency, and then flies in the face of it all in just about every scene and plot twist. Firstly, the monetary system itself. Four minutes for a cup of coffee! Loans of a month at 30% interest! People living literally day to day! Dear sir - no economy could ever run like that .And then supposedly, the solution Will and Sylvia come up with to right all wrongs is to steal 1 million years from Sylvia’s dad (which just made me lol and think of “one miiiiiiillion dollars”). And again, Vincent Kartheiser is the only one who’s smart enough to point out that um, what good's that going to do for the larger population? 

It's like no one understands maths in this world!

And yet, more stupid events occur - like Will and Sylvia robbing a timelender with a smash and grab. You mean no other criminal element in the ‘ghetto’ has ever thought to do the same thing? And then Will and Sylvia able to do this extraordinary crime five more times without getting caught by either the non-existent guards at these timelenders or the cops? Not to mention Will keeps hiding out at the same places within blocks of his crimes, over and over again, and yet the police don’t find them for ages. And when they do finally catch up with Will AT HIS OWN DAMN APARTMENT they park right out in the street so Will and Sylvia can see them coming and have enough time to get dressed and escape out the back – which no cops had covered. Because there's only three cops in this universe. 

Also, while the rich people all have bodyguards, they must really suck because Will manages to hide himself in a pack of them without detection. And when he reveals himself, the other 9 armed guards give up without a fight, and none of them raise any alarms when their wealthy employer is kidnapped and taken hostage. Uh. 

And don’t even get me started on the ARM WRESTLING. That's right, in order to expound on Will’s sob/back story, JT and Pettyfer have the world's most boring and ridiculous confrontation where they arm wrestle TO DEATH. Then there’s the other stupid death scene, with Cillian Murphy killed by the most stupid deus ex machina ever (and yes, once again, it involved impossible time shenanigans). So Will, earlier in the movie, manages to make his 2 hours from capture last from night to day and across several "timezones", overtaking even Sylvia’s clock, but somehow Cillian dies because his character forgets to top up his per diem at just the right moment after surviving 50 years of policing. Riiiiiiiiiight.

I could go on but let me summarise: this movie's not just bad, it's lazy and careless and a waste of some real talents. I mean, Oscar nominated cinematographers! Oscar winning costume designers! The writer of Gattaca and The Truman Show! A really attractive cast, with some fantastic talent (plus JT). And yet, the sum of its products is this fiasco that is so terrible that ripping it to shreds kept Al and I amused for hours afterwards.

i made some foods

So I've been cooking my way steadily through a bunch of recipes this month and while almost all of them have been delicious (I have discovered that I'm not a big fan of polenta), I keep forgetting to take photos of them before I eat.

But I remembered this weekend! \o/


Pea risotto with salmon

1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
150g arborio rice
50mL white wine
350mL low-salt chicken stock, hot
70g frozen peas
2 salmon fillets (about 400g)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp cream

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Fry onion in oil on high heat. Stir in the rice to coat in oil. Add the wine and stock and season (I added a little dash of chilli flakes at this point). Simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Meanwhile, place salmon on a baking sheet and pour over the lemon juice. Season and roast 10-12 minutes until cooked through. (I also roasted some pumpkin tossed in honey at the same time).

Once the rice is tender, stir peas into the risotto with the cream. (I added 1/3 cup grated cheese too).

Serve salmon on a bed risotto. Makes enough for two.

**

This next one's not as pretty, but it did make for a satisfying dinner tonight while I watched young kids who could trounce me in cooking skills AND presentation on Junior Masterchef. :P


Chicken noodle soup

300mL low-salt chicken stock
1 tsp 5-spice powder
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 nest of noodles
shredded, cooked children
beansprouts
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp spicy sesame oil
lettuce, shredded

Bring chicken stock to boil with 5-spice powder and carrots. Lower heat to simmer and add noodles (I used udon). Cook until noodles are tender.

Stir in soy sauce and sesame oil. Add chicken (I had some chicken I'd roasted and frozen earlier in the week), beansprouts and lettuce.

Serves one.

Okkervil River - 18 Oct 2011 - The Metro

The last time I saw Okkervil River (in May 2009) I never wrote up the concert in detail, but this was my gobsmacked, joyful summary:

"Oh my god, Okkervil River. They were AMAZING and totally renewed my faith in the power of live music. Will Sheff had the audience completely enthralled with his musical storytelling, and the whole band was having fun and playing well - loose and a little rough, but really good, and passionate. <3333333"

It still sits in my personal pantheon of best live shows EVER. So while I was really really looking forward to the gig on Tuesday night, part of me was also worried that I would be disappointed because of my stratospheric expectations.

But I needn't have worried. They are still one of the most face-meltingly fantastic acts live. They dove straight into it with a rollicking Wake and Be Fine from their latest album I Am Very Far, and then just barrelled through one high-octane, wonderful song after another, the energy levels lowering for just a few quieter moments here and there, like on the lovely A Girl in Port.


A Girl in Port

While last time what I came away with was an awe at the intimate, intense experience at the Annandale with more broody songs like A Stone and Another Radio Song, this time around I was struck by the energy and joy emanating from the stage. Hearing Okkervil songs live is a revelation; it's not about hearing a note-perfect copy but the the music coursing through your body, thrumming with energy and emotion.

I loved hearing every song on the set list, though particular surprises and highlights were Piratess came across like a torch song, more haunting in person with Will Sheff's mournful voice; and the one-two-three punch of Your Past Life as a Blast, Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe and Lost Coastlines where each song ended on such a terrific burst of energy that I thought surely, they're done for the night, and prepared myself for their exit - and then they'd throw themselves into the next song with glee.


Lost Coastlines

For every song they played I could think of another I wanted to hear played, but still I walked out humming their songs, grinning from ear to ear, madly proselytising about Okkervil's supremacy as a band to treasure.


Wake and Be Fine
For Real
Rider
Black
Piratess
A Girl in Port
Son of Our So-Called Friend
We Need a Myth
The Valley
No Key No Plan (Will Scheff, Richard Pestorius)
So Come Back I Am Waiting
John Allyn Smith Sails
Your Past Life as a Blast (mp3 from last.fm)
Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe
Lost Coastlines

The Rise
Westfall
Unless It's Kicks

Pulp - 27 Jul 2011 - Hordern Pavillion

Jarvis Cocker made this show – whether dancing awkwardly at the front of the stage, making near-pornographic whispers into the mike or climbing all over massive speakers, he’s so on, possibly more than any other frontman I’ve ever seen. And even though it’s been 10 years since they’ve had a big hit, and over 10 years since I came to love them, there’s something wonderful in seeing his skinny, floppy haired silhouette in person.

The show itself is slick, with giant screens, the band name literally up in lights, and even a night-vision cam, but it wouldn’t work if the band weren’t so damn committed and good at what they do, even after a long hiatus. They played all the hits, sprinkled liberally through a setlist heavy with songs from Different Class (they played all but two songs from that album). Pop hits Disco 2000 and Common People were the most heartily received with a collective singalong and the terrible dancing of a generation of 20 and 30 somethings who were once the awkward, sensitive, sexually frustrated teens and youths that Pulp captures so well in its songs - and for a few golden moments we were those kids once more.

But it was more than just teenage nostalgia – the highlights for me were the songs that allowed Cocker and his band to bring on the layered musical brilliance and the over-the-top psychosexual melodrama such as I Spy, F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E and This is Hardcore.

Apart from being annoyed the the show started way earlier than advertised, so that we turned up halfway through the first song, this was such a brilliant, high-energy night full of great music that was part nostalgia trip but also somehow didn't seem dated at all.


Do You Remember the First Time?
Pink Glove
Bad Cover Version
Pencil Skirt
Something Changed
Disco 2000
Sorted For E's & Wizz
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
I Spy
Babies
Underwear
This Is Hardcore
The Fear
Sunrise
Bar Italia
Common People

Like a Friend
Live Bed Show
Mis-Shapes

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (TBR Challenge Book 3)

Leaving on a jet plane in a little while, so this will be short!


I always think Atwood is going to be harder to read than she actually is, though this might be because I gravitate toward her books about women and their complicated, often hurtful, relationships with each other.

However, because of this, it was also emotionally wearing to read. I was bullied as a child when I was around Elaine's age and there were times when I had to put the book down because my skin was crawling at the spot-on voices of Elaine's friends, the things they said to and *how* they said it, the way they used niceties to police her in really not-nice ways.

And yet, the sections about her life as a child were the most vivid, the most interesting to me - the descriptions of her unusual family, their trips away, the day-to-day minutae of being a child and finding out piece-by-piece how the world works. Elaine the grown woman, the artist, while she continues to talk in first person, seemed to become more and more distanced from the reader, from the world around her, as she reveals more about her past, revels more in the stories of the past than in her present.

But in the end, I liked it - couldn't say I enjoyed it, but I liked it. And hopefully this makes me more willing to read more Atwood.

**

Also, RIP Diana Wynne Jones. My first DWJ book was Black Maria (which hardly anyone mentions anymore) at around age 9 and it was creepy and wonderful and made me want to read more about magic worlds. I then went on to read Magicians of Caprona, then in quick succession all the Chrestomanci books. I will miss the joy of coming across new DWJ books in Kino - I will continue to look out for those books of hers I haven't managed to read yet.

Belle and Sebastian - 10 Mar 2011 - Opera House

Set list
I Fought in a War
Expectations
Dirty Dream No. 2
I'm Not Living in the Real World (Stevie)
Piazza, New York Catcher
I Want the World to Stop
Antony
Sukie in the Playground
Fox in the Snow
A Century of Fakers
Travelling Light (Stevie)
Write About Love
I Didn't See It Coming
Boy with the Arab Strap
Judy and the Dream of Horses
Sleep the Clock Around

Blues Are Still Blue
Me and the Major

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (TBR Challenge Book 2)

On the Road is jazz music; it's made up of riffs and improvisations. It sprawls at times - over space, time, form - but it can also seem rather hermetic at other moments, sealed in the repetition of yet another drifting/madcap travail from one end of America to the other, narrator Sal once again towed along by his best friend Dean. Or more correctly, by Dean's manic energy and his endless dreams - both in his limitless capacity for dreaming, and foor the fact that these dreams never come to fruition, never reach the end.

It's Dean that's the pulsing heart of this book - he's fascinating, and at the same time, you can't help be aware that if he were real he would the most infuriating person to be around. And then you realise he *was* real, that the beauty of the book in part is the way Kerouac has captured this portrait of his friend Neal Cassady, the way he manages to make music out of his character who leaps off the page, burning so bright that you can see why Sal/Jack stuck with him for so long, why he was drawn into Dean's schemes again and again.

It's actually taken me around five goes to finish reading this book. Some of the writing - oh, perfect in its poetry, its precise story-telling.

Marylou was watching Dean as she watched him clear across the country and back, out of the corner of her eye - with a sullen, sad air, as though she wanted to cut off his head and hide it in her closet, an envious and rueful love of him so amazingly himself, all raging and sniffy and crazy-wayed, a smile of her tender dotage but also sinister envy that frightened me about her, a love she knew woulld never bear fruit because when she looked at his hangjawed bony face with its male self-containment and absentmindedness she knew he was too mad.

But some other sections I couldn't leaf through fast enough, bored, frustrated. I'm not sure if I ever will attempt to give it a solid read through again - it seems to me such a rich text that it's best served in small bites, snatches of music, bursts of life at its most haphazard.

TBR Challenge - my 12 books for 2011

related reading

On the Road, Revisited
Loved reading this back and forth discussion between Megan O'Rourke and Walter Kirn on Slate about their reading of On the Road. I particularly enjoyed O'Rourke's response to the book, the way it expresses an idea of an America that was and never was and could've been.

Andrew McMahon - 10 Feb 2011 - The HiFi (Brisbane)

"Wouldn't it be funny," Al said to me as we ambled along Boundary St in Brisbane’s West End, “If we came all the way to Brisbane to see Andrew McMahon and then somehow missed the show?”

I think she said this to tease me about my worry that we’d forgotten to bring the tickets from Sydney, knowing full well we had them. But I admit to having a moment of panic when, upon entering the venue at 9:45pm ahead of the advertised 10pm starting time, we heard Andrew’s distinctive voice drifting down the corridor through the building.

Yes, he’d started early — so we only made it to the surprisingly packed floor as Andrew finished playing his first song, solo on the piano. He stayed seated at the piano for the rest of the show though he was joined by Jack’s Mannequin bandmate Bobby Anderson on the guitar for the rest of this set. They were lovely in harmony with each other, and even with just the two of them and an instrument each on stage they played with gusto and had a surprisingly amount of energy.



Andrew was adorable on stage — endearing and utterly earnest in performance. He introduced every single song, sometimes adding colour with anecdotes about song name choices and his motivations for writing a song (or admitting he couldn’t remember why he’d written it!) Some of them were serious and illuminating, like the story behind the rather depressingly titled Hey Hey Hey (We’re All Going to Die), and some were just amusing, like his reminiscing about being a stoner and insisting on a blue light in his room for about six months as an intro to She Paints Me Blue.

The set list was a treat, with both Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate songs getting an airing. It was a fun singing along to JM songs I love (like La La Lie at Andrew’s urging and the affirming The Resolution) but it was also great, as more of a latter-day JM fan, to be introduced to older Something Corporate cuts like the beautifully sad Down. Andrew even threw in a cover of Elton John’s rocket man, which worked well with his voice and his great piano work.



Andrew left the stage after just over an hour. All through the night there’d been the occasional call for Konstantine from the audience, but as Andrew returned to the stage for the encore, some obnoxious fans started to really yell for the song. Andrew tried charmingly to reason with them about why wouldn’t be playing it, but he became a little flustered as his words fell on mostly deaf ears, and the calls continued. (For the interested, the reason is to prevent him from having to play the song every night of his life — if he plays it at one gig then every following audience would demand and expect it. Fair enough.) However, the night still ended on a lovely, upbeat note with a singalong to Dark Blue, the song staying with me and looping through my head as we walked back to our accommodation.

All in all, I loved seeing him play again, to hear him play a longer set than I've ever managed before. Even though it was a solo tour, which restricted him to the piano and he couldn’t bounce around and be all energetic and muppety, he really is a pleasure to see and hear live.


photo from primroserobinson

Hammer and Strings (A Lullaby)
Mix Tape
Crashin’
As You Sleep
Holiday from Real
She Paints Me Blue
La La Lie
The Resolution
Rocket Man (Elton John cover)
Swim
Down
21 and Invincible
Hey Hey Hey (We’re All Going to Die)
Bruised
Spinning

Punk Rock Princess
Olive (Bobby Anderson side project)
Dark Blue

Menomena - 7 Feb 2011 - Factory Theatre

The last two Menomena albums made my favourites list of their respective years of release, so I was really really looking forward to this show, on their first tour of Australia. And they did not disappoint!

They started loud, strong and muscular with the aptly named Muscle’n Flo followed by two great tracks from Mines, their fantastic album from last year, including the awesome, funky TAOS. All through the show they were such a joy to listen to; the multilayered music, bouncing from atmospheric to rocking, from energetic to haunting and reflective, all with the restless, driving rhythm. I loved the vocals provided by the whole band, strange lines of harmony weaving in and out of each other, an odd mix of voices that shouldn’t work and yet sound so good together.

The four-piece band were fun on stage, with a great line in sweetly snarky banter between themselves and the small but dedicated audience. Justin Harris made time to thank the crowd for appreciating the deep cuts they were playing as they dipped into material from first album I am the Fun Blame Monster!, including The Late Great Libido, one of my favourites, which Harris said was the first time they’d played it live in four years! They were also fairly patient with the obnoxious elements of the crowd who kept heckling and yelling for Evil Bee, which the band demurred from playing since it’s usually sung by recently departed band member Brent Knopf.


The Late Great Libido

Despite the fact it was only their fourth show with Brent’s replacement, the enthusiastic, prone-to-dancing Paul Alcott on keyboard, the band were great, throwing themselves into the performance with abandon, giving it their all. Justin Harris was suffering a cold that was causing him to lose his voice – he apologised after some songs where his voice was noticeably breaking but powered on through the show, singing and playing with skill the baritone sax (to my great instrument-geek joy). And Danny Seim was just AMAZING to watch as he pounded away - the drumming, oh the drumming.



Even though their set was a little over an hour long, they were so charming and talented live, with a show so full of wonderful music, I didn’t feel cheated at all and enjoyed every moment.


Muscle'n Flo
Five Little Rooms
TAOS
Weird
Tithe
Strongest Man In The World
Twenty Cell Revolt
BOTE
The Late Great Libido
Queen Black Acid
Dirty Cartoons
Rotten Hell

Ghostship
The Pelican

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (TBR Challenge Book 1)

It all starts at that well-known symbol of the Australian summer, the suburban backyard BBQ. In attendance at Hector and Aisha’s house one hot summer afternoon is a party doubles as a cross-section of modern Australian society - young and old; friends, family and colleagues; and a mix of races and cultures. Then in one heated moment, Hector’s brother slaps the recalcitrant child of another guest. The Slap then follows the story of ten people at the BBQ that afternoon as they navigate and weather the repercussions of that moment in their own lives.

If you’ve never encountered Tsiolkas’ writing before, The Slap may be the place to start – it’s his most accessible novel to date. He leaves behind in-your-face tales of the marginal and the grotesque that so marked Dead Europe and Loaded and focuses on the heart of the suburbs, that bubbling cauldron of fidelity, friendship, family tension and race relations in every day Australian life. The characters he draws are so vivid, so human; presented with myriad flaws that can make them hard to like, but Tsiolkas is smart enough to flesh out their motivations that you can never fully condemn each person for their apparent sins.

My main issue with the book is that the divergent character points-of-view never quite gel together as one narrative for me. ‘The slap’ ties all the characters together but not their stories, and the exploration into the personal life of each character takes away from the overall narrative drive. But as standalone character pieces, they’re each an interesting commentary on romantic, familial and platonic relationships in contemporary Australia, though some are arguable more successful than others in their critique and/or emotional impact. The sections that struck me the most were Manolis’ bittersweet elegy on ageing, as Hector’s father reconnects with his past, with the brothers-in-arms who immigrated to Australian alongside him, who supported each other through those early days in an unfamiliar clime; and the joy of being young and alive in the tender, surprisingly hopeful ending section seen through Richie’s eyes.

Tsiolkas is such a powerful, angry writer that in the end, it doesn’t really matter that this ambitious, sprawling novel doesn’t completely hold together. I appreciate that it’s a good, uncomfortable read, a book that challenges, repels, and provokes thoughts about the ugly truths and issues that are too often kept hidden under the facade of polite and respectable society.

TBR Challenge - my 12 books for 2011

Best of: Music in 2010

Here be my 10 favourite albums of the year:

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
All those crazy, musically-diverse layers - beats, lyrics, themes, ego and doubts - through the album.

watch: the trailer (or "moving portrait" as Kanye called it) for the video for 'Power' (which is rumoured to be 40+ minutes long), my favourite song along with 'Monster' (but I love Monster more for Nicki Minaj's verse - she steals the song out from everyone)


2. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
The album did not grab me on first listen, but it was definitely a grower - just like previous album Neon Bible - and by the end of the year I had completely fallen in love with the storytelling, the atmosphere. The music is lighter, but the claustrophobia of the Suburbs is clear still within, the dark heart under the beautiful, peaceful surface.

Listen: 'The Suburbs' / 'Month of May'


3. All Days are Night: Songs for Lulu by Rufus Wainwright.
I love that Rufus Wainwright's idea of“stripped back”still includes gorgeously lush piano-driven heartbreaking paens to grief and love.

Download: 'Who are you, New York?'

4. Everything Under the Sun by Jukebox the Ghost
So many fine, catchy pop songs, so much intelligent thought behind it. Great follow-up album.

Watch: the band being interviewed at the 'Bean' in Chicago, where they talk about Ben Folds Five comparisons and why they have such a weird band name.


5. Mines by Menomena
I love the musical layers in the songs, from the different qualities of the voices to the fuzzy bass to the beat to those great horns.

Download: 'TAOS'

6. Danger Days by My Chemical Romance
Anthemic and built to be played loud - it's not rocket science, but it is damn catchy and fun.

Watch: Art is the Weapon - a trailer of sorts for the first single, the intro for the thru-story and palette and concept for their whole album.


7. Life is Sweet! Pleased to Meet You by Lightspeed Champion
Great songs that are more complex than they seem at first, with lush orchestral arrangements, clever lyrics, and diverse musical styles.

8. Steel Train by Steel Train
Sweet, fun indie pop that I've had on repeat constantly this year.

Listen: 'Turnpike Ghost'

9. The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
I'm still not sure I entirely like this album end-to-end though that might be my reflex reaction to at times deliberately harsh electronica mix through his trademark his beautiful, floaty music. But the album does have some absolutely terrific moments, such as I Walked and the 25 minute standout, Impossible Soul.

Download: 'I Walked'

10. The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monae
I love her voice, and the ambitious mishmash of genres and styles all through her music, while remaining catchy as hell.

Watch: the video for 'Tightrope' - great song, great storytelling, creepy video with some mesmerising footwork. What's not to like?


Honourable Mentions

Bad Books – Bad Books
Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian Write About Love
Annuals – Sweet Sister EP
Boy & Bear – With Emperor Antarctic EP

Looking forward to new releases in 2011 from:

Patrick Wolf (Lupercalia)
Panic! at the Disco (Vices and Virtues)
The Decemberists (The King is Dead is out now)
Bright Eyes (The People's Key)
Okkervil River (I am Very Far)
Manchester Orchestra (Simple Math)
Taking Back Sunday

also rumoured to release new albums are:
fun.
Radiohead
Blink-182

It's looking to be an exciting new year of music! And hopefully some of these guys tour, which brings me to...

live music from 2010!

I saw a total of 19 bands at 16 shows. This included seeing Kevin Devine 3 times and Brand New twice in the space of five days and I don't regret any of that at all (as you will see from the list of best shows below).

Nine Favourite Performances

1. Kevin Devine @ East Brunswick Club, 29 Mar
2. Brand New @ Enmore Theatre, 25 Mar
3. The Decemberists @ The Metro, 19 Jan
4. The Pixies @ Hordern Pavilion, 14 Mar
5. Delta Spirit @ Factory Theatre, 3 Oct
6. Band of Horses @ Enmore Theatre, 29 July
7. Spoon @ The Forum, 7 May
8. Sunny Day Real Estate @ UNSW Roundhouse, 23 Feb
9. Neko Case @ City Recital Hall, 12 Jan

Upcoming Shows:
Sufjan Stevens, Menomena, Andrew McMahon, Belle and Sebastian

Dec 2010 live music compendium (Lemonheads, Jebediah, Lightspeed Champion)

I had three shows lined up for December and unfortunately all three were rather frustrating.

The Lemonheads - 1 Dec 2010 - The Metro
To be honest, this was really 'Evan Dando and friends who are not the original Lemonheads playing through It's a Shame About Ray and then another twenty songs'. All within an hour and a bit, mind - it was an automated assembly line of songs, one note-perfect, joyless rendition after another. The room, sweaty and fully packed for the sold-out show, perked up at the singles and created a nice atmosphere with nostalgic singalongs, but on stage there was nothing fun at all. Dando barely acknowledged the audience, saying about ten words the whole night - and eight of them were 'thank you'. There was a one song encore, a shambolic version of Outdoor Type with old friends and support band Smudge, but at least Dando seemed to be enjoying himself for the first time all night. The band were proficient in their playing, and he still has that great voice (rather unfairly, it seemed that all that hard living has agreed with him) but ultimately, it was not a rousing comeback or even a fun nostalgia trip.

Jebediah - 9 Dec 2010 - Annadale Hotel
And Jebediah was not the fun nostalgia trip I was looking for either. I had such a good time at their last show at the Annadale. This time though...yeah, they were still loud and energetic and still ridiculously young looking (Kev Mitchell has surely drunk from the fountain of life). But after the late start, an hour of listening to them play obscure songs from their back catalog and none of thie hits, weaksauce banter and one too many moments of tech problems, we decided to bail. Just one more song, Al and I said, wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt, but after four times we gave it up for lost. You can't go back to being sixteen again...again.

Lightspeed Champion - 3 Jan 2011 - Spectrum
This was a show steeped in chaos from the start. Cancelled and then rescheduled in the new year, after Devonte Hynes was stuck in New York due to snowstorms, it was a tiny crowd that gathered about a foot from the stage on the night, with the much more popular Born Ruffians show on at the same time just three doors down the road.

Hynes' was truly playing a solo show - just one man on stage, with an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a keyboard and...a laptop. And this is where things get kind of bizarre - he chose, for half the set, to sing along with his backing tracks playing on his laptop, forsaking live instrumentation for the pre-recorded version, even when he *had* said instrumentation at his disposal. This meant that at times, it felt like we were watching someone at karaoke - well-sung karaoke, sure, but still a little underwhelming as an audience at a show. The biggest shame was that when Hynes chose to go without the track and just accompany himself on guitar or keyboard, he was really good and the music was really really lovely. The highlights, for me, were an acoustic version of Deadhead Blues and of Flush Out, a new song (which he released for free download today!).

He was well-received, none the less; surrounded by enthusiastic fanboys and one very persistent photographer, he struck poses and sang his heart out and for the last song, a cover of Hello, he sang to the crowd in the thick of the crowd on the tiny floor, which finally broke the nervous atmosphere and gave the show and the room some life, just a little too late.

2010 reading round-up / The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge

So in 2010, I read 113 books, which was a fair bit up on last year's total (of 68). Yay for public transport time once more!

My top 3 books from last year were:

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel
This is such a rich, wonderful book - in story, in themes, in the storytelling. It’s a memoir in comic form, tracing Alison Bechdel’s childhood to her early twenties, her relationship with her somewhat distant father, and the complex, related issue of sexuality. It’s beautifully written and drawn, funny and heartrending in turn, as she circles closer and closer to an understanding of childhood memories that seem to gain more sinister meanings in the wake of her father’s death a few weeks after she comes out to her parents. Beautifully written and drawn, funny and heartrending in turn.

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
I started one morning before work in April, thought about it all day when I wasn't reading it, and finished by that night. And months later, I still find myself thinking over it every now and then. I loved so much about this - the different voices, the different genres he plays with, the fantastic structure folding into each other.

The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean
This was such a fascinating, beautifully written piece of journalism, thoughful and detailed and somehow quite loving about the very insular, slightly crazy world of orchid breeding and collecting. I definitely looked at orchids in a different light after reading it - and I don't even *like* orchids.

rounding out my top 10:

The Fall of Kings – Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman
Perfect Circle – Sean Stewart
The Cutting Room – Louise Welsh
The Monkey's Mask – Dorothy Porter
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Magic for Beginners – Kelly Link
Hikaru no Go (manga series)

Where do I get all these books from?! Well, every year I love seeing where and how I economically acquired each year's reads. As always, Alison is my greatest single book enabler...

47 borrowed from Alison (which includes 29 volumes of manga)
22 bought from secondhand bookshops, Book Basement and other discount book sellers
13 from the library
11 from Bookmooch
10 read for free at bookshops
4 borrowed from other friends
2 bought full price

This brings me to The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge. I may read a fair bit, but it's safe to say that I acquire even more books each year - and a large number of these then sit forever on my 'to be read' shelves (and I literally have four shelves of books TBR). Hence, the TBR Pile Challenge:



The Goal:
To finally read 12 books from your "to be read" pile, within 12 months.

Each of these 12 books (plus 2 alternates, just in case you can't finish one or two of the original 12) must have been on your bookshelf or "To Be Read" list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2010 or later (any book published in the year 2009 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile).

So I went through the pile and decided on:

1. The Slap - Christos Tsolkas
2. Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco (see Alternate no. 14)
3. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood*
4. A Contract with God - Will Eisner
5. We So Seldom Look on Love - Barbara Gowdy
6. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
7. The Flight From the Enchanter - Iris Murdoch*
8. Nekropolis - Maureen McHugh
9. Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
10. Beauty - Shari S. Tepper
11. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy*
12. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Michael Chabon*

alternates
13. Beauty - Robin McKinley*
14. On the Road - Jack Kerouac

* indicates a book I've borrowed from Al, most likely for years

One of the requirements of the challenge is to post book reviews as I go, so that should ensure that I blog at least 12 times this year...which would probably double the amount of posts, ahahahasigh. So watch this space!