Dirty Pretty Things

I really liked this movie. I think it's good for idealists to see these kinds of "reality" movies...cos in lucky progressive countries we often forget what SOME people are having to go through. I'm so sick of really heavy negative people though....even lucky countries are full of broken people with heaps of issues. Maybe it's escapist or maybe I've indulged too much of it already, but I 'm tired of these kinds of people...so I happily avoid them...maybe I do prefer the people who save you the hassle and at least act cheerful no matter what!

I especially liked the opening instrumentals and the credits song...

I liked this Dream :)

Well the rest of the dream was pretty crazy like weird obstacle courses where my daredevil mate was riding a horse drawn wagon trying to jump the entire horse and buggy over other horses ahead of him...and I don't remember much else but the end was like the end credits of a film...with a title reading

"The Best Things in Life are The Simplest Ones!"

LOL, so it got me thinking what are some of the simplest things unique to me that make me Ooze Joy... this is a working list cos my brain doesn't kick into full force until well after 5pm ;)

* Happy Guinea Pigs (when guinea pigs are OVERJOYED they run around excitedly and "hop" like little kernels of popping corn emitting little "yelps" of delight...it is one of the Cutest things you can ever witness EVER.

* Being able to satiate a Food Craving and not be disappointed currently this is Green&Blacks Italian style chocolate, organic dried apricots, MSG free wonton noodles and northern style pan fried pork dumplings with vinegar...

* Foreign Correspondence and resulting culture class with people all around the world :-D

* Escaping into Nature whether it be a salt breeze with big mouthed pelicans or misty dew green mountains or big, clear blue sky, yellow grasses and vast expanses of empty tarmac ahead.

* Inspiration from people, music, film, philosophers, art

Convoluted Paths, Film and Music...

I learnt in my notetaking class about the curious art form of Path Tracing. It's pretty cool really: to gauge human interaction with a public space, people's movements in that space are documented and recorded visually- this has become some kind of ubercool underground art form...

Since I had a luxurious day off yesterday today brought scope for "playtime"- and it was only the second time I've found myself having to come back reasonably late night unescorted in the city and we all know what happened the first time :P

So anyway I deliberately went back the long-winded way to avoid the beer goggled and dangerous yobbo stretch...no such luck :P just 200 m shy of home there was some crazy blocking the bridge who was curled up screaming violent nonsense like he required an exorcism...so I had to turn back to where I came and walk yet another convoluted path home...

I was half thinking- "wow what pretty arty squiggles my path home would have made"LOL. Of course my rational practical side was thinking "sheesh, SO INEFFICIENT- this convoluted path walking is really starting to get on my nerves!"

So anyway, I caught a film The Visitor - I have to admit I didn't read the entire blurb when choosing - I got suckered in by the headline "in a world of 6 billion people it only takes one to change your life" as well as the fact it was set in NYC...

Unfortunately, unlike Juno I have no glowing review for The Visitor...I found the movie was overly sentimental, overly constructed/stylized? and highly oppressive/quite heavy- I guess that is the mood the director was trying to achieve though...if you have seen this film and have an opinion, I'd like to know!

In any case, I did take one inspiration from the film...

I think I want to take up African Drumming(Djembe)!!!

pic: wikipedia

Playing drums has always been a childhood wish (along with trombone, sax and double bass- LOl what's the deal with small person and big instruments?!)

I like rhythm so much, I remember as a child playing pots and pans and even stringing up an icecream bucket to be 'the little drummerboy'...this love for rhythm and noise even extended to me 'tapdancing' on the kitchen tiles.

Anyhow no drumkit or drum lessons ever eventuated because of my mum's preconceived ideas about what constitutes a gender appropriate instrument...or maybe she was just being sensible it what she would be able to stand the sound of!!

In any case, since I'm on the topic of music, just yesterday I was listening to Nigel Kennedy's Four Seasons and thinking what an utterly sublime piece of classical music it is, and that if I could play the violin I'd want to be able to play just like him!

Similarly, if I could play Cello, I'd want to be able to play like Yo Yo Ma. And piano, I have no favourite artist as long as I had the ability to play great composers like Ravel, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Debussy etc...

The great thing about African Drumming is unlike the others which you need to learn as a child just to be able to make nice noises, I think hand drums are relatively easy to learn as long as you have a decent sense of rhythm! I wonder how much they cost??...I think this will have to wait till after the DSLR...and I definitely need to take a vow of abstinence with the CDs! :-p

My Bubble of Idealism has BURST : (

I had the stupid nerve to venture out of my 1.5km bubble again. It was yet more horrible continuation of bad eggplant day of yesterday...I don't want to go into the details.

But basically it's all about the city-city-a horrible place to live- I know I should use positive affirmation to delude myself but compared to my old town it's...horrible. All the asssociated degradation I have to endure that comes with citylife just keeps popping my idealistic bubble.

So predictably enough...I ended up in a music store...AGAIN. And wreaked a further 5 cds worth of damage. At least they were playing THE CURE greatest hits the whole time I was in there, so the visit was somewhat therapeutic.

Later, waiting for the bus it started raining very heavily. Ahhhh such relief. People stared at the crazy girl with no common sense...but to me that was an invitation from the universe to cleanse me of city grime...so I indulged big fat raindrops pelting my face...that's the closest to nature I can get in this disgusting concrete jungle. Felt more grounded after connecting with my inner hippie like that.

In any case when your soul is feeling heavy the best happy tonic is the joyful music of one of my music idols- Youssou N'Dour from Senegal. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND his album Coono du reer (Nothing's in Vain) even if you don't think you like world music. It is complete *joy* through music from a total God- well he definitely has a presence and an amazing vibe...

so you blast it really loud, and your uncultured blinkered citydwellers exclaim "what the hell is that?!" LOL.

Happy Times :)

p.s I justified the crazy ELEVEN cd purchase in one weekend with the fact that I'm just gonna hole up from now on- unless I can TRULY escape the city I'm not gonna venture out of my 1.5km bubble- the less degradation I have to witness the better I'll feel...ignorance is bliss!

3:30am Hungry-Itis

So I was dead tired- went to bed at 9pm and hence probably why I have the munchies now so am cooking myself a nice bowl of congee which should be done by breakfast...

Yesterday was nice- spent a rare day with the jetsetter sis :)

Had a much needed bit of culture and refinement which was nice for a change. Had brunch at a place that is pretty 'en vogue' at the moment -big sister's treat^^-spanish baked eggs with chorizo and a berry frappe- was o.k but for the price, the wait time for such simple food and the fact there were egg shells in it wasn't very impressive...the chorizo was blah. In any case haven't been to that part of Sydney for a bit- I forgot how pretentious (in general) Sydneysiders are...

Now my sis has become a 'burbs' chick since getting married I also showed her a couple of the artsy design shops and we checked a couple of galleries which weren't having anything great on but she was glad for cos apparently she's totally dagged out in the burbs LOL- then I also showed her a really nice French Patisserie :) For a bit she struck me as a tourist...I guess when one works so hard and is such a jetsetting career professional they kind of never have time to discover all the hidden treasures of their own city...

I'm so over this city though- I can't wait to move to regional pastures...by the ocean :)

So anyway we then made our way to the last final of the International Piano Competition...I think the majority of the crowd there was about 80- it's a shame how appreciation for classical music is so dying...

The competitors: there was a Russian, a Japanese and an American playing Prokofiev, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky respectively using a Steinway, Kawai and Steinway respectively.

Growing up with a European piano I definitely preferred the less bright sound of the Steinways but the Japanese guy was such a cutie- he was like Winnie the Pooh with glasses :) and his performance was...pleasant, whimsical even.

The Russian came across as very austere...he played a very unusual piece- from a layperson listener's view it was hard to engage with the Prokofiev- it was very temperamental, moody and changeable- it was like Bipolar...as music!

The American rounded the competition out with Tchaikovsky- his performance was a real crowd pleaser- I'll admit he was my favourite but what do I know? In the end the Russian won, the Japanese came 4th and the American rounded out the competition...

Final thought seeing it's the first time I've been to a piano competition...these piano geniuses really ought to get out in the sun more- they all look so sickly from being closed up all day!!!