Georgiezine

Tomorrow my husband and I have to take kid to a 2nd birthday party, for friends of ours. It's at 10am, I applaud them for going boldly and scheduling an early party, also for holding it as a picnic (nice and easy, focus is on social, not food). But I haven't made an effort to make intended quiche and agreed with husband we should do it tomorrow, before we go. But I suspect he doesn't realise we are due so early! Plus it's pageant day, and we have to walk into gardens as a consequence (which we would do anyway, but no second option of travel). Other news? I have gone crazy requesting DVDs at library. Was embarrassed to walk into library and see I have a shelf area cordoned off. Had been searching by actors and requesting anything said actor had been in; some real duds-a lot of Luke Wilson & Adam Sandler films "inadvertently" requested. Plus DVD isn't working. What turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable was Saturday Night Fever, which I borrowed becau...

Hardly any films or music or literature comes to mind as finds of 2010. I think that's because the year was dominated by my personal life-new job, renovations, marriage and becoming a mother. Do have to join the new century though-am currently listening to a Liz Phair CD I borrowed from the library. The whole purpose of browsing their music collection was to make a new discovery, and instead I am listening to confessional 90s singer/songwriters. Which I DO like, and I do think in general that women are under represented in the music scene and I give blessings to the whole early 90s riot grrl scene for challenging that.... but I just don't find the music that great to listen to whilst at home on a hot early new years eve. Maybe if I was walking down a city street, anticipating a crowded smokey night with friends. (Sorry Liz). Stephen Cummings provided some amusing analysis of current female singer songwriters in Australia, with reference to people such as Sally Seltmann and C...

I'm one of the lucky people that have a really good hairdresser who is also an interesting person. Midweek I saw her, and she offered to let me listen to her Drones album. This interaction actually started with me ducking my head into Frankie magazine and her teasing me for being a bookworm but confessing she likes the silence to concentrate... but then we pleasantly diverted into a talk about modern music and the dark side and kindred quirks. She talked up the drones, and I thought I'd like them, they're on a path of musical interests for me that goes from Nick Cave, Dirty Three, Mess Hall, Peter Head and Bridezilla. Plus I remember admiring their duffel coat. Then she asked if I was heading to the All Tomorrow's Parties gig for the Sydney Festival. I said that I was eyeing it off, but didn't currently have a buddy to attend with, what with my kindred Nick Cave spirits being parents of under 2s/overseas/travelling in South America or China/working 7 days a we...

It's been 8 years since I've been to this festival. hard to believe. Last time was just before I was due to leave town, go travelling, go changing and all that. Just as I'd settled in. My friend Brig said it will all still be here... but Jen disputes that. So this time round, I did have a moment of absolute antsiness towards the crowds. It was suggested that 30,000 attend, more than all the people that lived in my home town. All gathered together in the size of football grounds. The angst was partly at my own foolishness for abandoning the writers tent for a quest for coffee, that caused me to push past people to gain any momentum and almost lose all grasp of what the day was about: community, neighbourhood, helping less advantaged people. Listening to the music, enjoying the crowds, discovering something unexpected. As a visitor, there was the sense of envy for the people actively involved in creating it: I didn't just want to be a purveyor, I wanted...

Read this review on the weekend of the exhibition that Andy and I saw. The journalist picks up on our sentiments: we were left a bit cold by the contemporary works compared to the 1940s pieces exhibited. I was really fascinated by Fahy Bottrell's work, (A thinks thats because I'm a print making freak) and wanted to know more about what happened next. That was such an amazing day. The National Art School buildings are of sandstone, old cell blocks, but the entire site has a fascinating atmosphere, productive, timeless, Australiana, I really liked it. From there we walked into the city, past gothic style terraces, steep walls, descending urban cliffs, wrought iron walls. You had the feeling of people disappearing into time, their gardens becoming overgrown as a kind of respite from the city, like his cousin Helen's terrace in Surry Hills that she no longer allows family to visit. We walked from venue to venue for the Biennale of Sydney, snoozed in the Botanical Gardens, e...