Sunday, April 22, 2007

Where do I start?

So it's been over a fortnight since my last entry... very lazy of me. Although it's not that I've actually been lazy, quite the opposite. And I'm currently suffering from a severe case of hyperactive brain disorder, so I might just have a few things to say in my post(s) today.

Here goes...

Spanish feast

Prior to one of my recent comedy festival outings, I had dinner at MoVida. I've come to the conclusion that MoVida is one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne... the food is fantastic, the location is great and the service is always good.

Mmmm, Spanish food. I always love the opportunity to try multiple dishes and flavours in one meal, although truth be told, I tend to gravitate back towards favourites. In particular, "Bistec tartar de wagyu", which is the spicy steak tartare. This dish is phenomenal, peppery and full of flavour. The only tartare I've had that rivals this dish was from Cafe Claude, SF. Nowhere else has ever managed the flavour that MoVida manages to put into this dish.

The poor man's potatoes and the capsicum and tomato salad were some of our side dishes (our reliable regular choices as well). And for dessert... seriously, how can you ever pass up churros? A dish that combines chocolate AND donuts? Works for me.

It was almost a pity that we had to be out by 8pm ahead of the next sitting (and our comedy show)... but I think if I sat there for too long, I'd eat my way through the menu, and end up as a penniless lump of Spanish goodness.

The Easter comedy bunny

I love Easter in Melbourne... not only because of the chocolate (definitely not enough this year, I need to learn to buy myself some), but because of the comedy festival.

Just walking around town each night, the streets are full of happy people (well, happy people, as well as the usual annoying people, and perhaps some happy people who are annoying as well) going to, and coming from, comedy shows. It really gives Melbourne a great vibe, and I love heading into town to grab some food, have a drink and see a show. The weather always seem to help out too, with those mild Melbourne autumn evenings.

I've long since found my perfect comedy festival groove... about 5 or 6 shows each year, mainly comedians from England, Scotland and Ireland. Something about the humour from that part of the globe really amuses me. (Although, I have to say, that perhaps due to my regular attendance each year, I am becoming somewhat immune to certain jokes and delivery styles - I need to hear and see something really unique to get me laughing heartily).

The line-up so far this year?

Jason Byrne - very crazy man-child. Manic, rambling delivery, quite rude and odd at times, but very funny. If he visits next year, I'll be there again.
Stephen K Amos - pretty funny, but a little bit hit or miss. He had a strange crowd on the night I saw him, including the insane laughing and clapping woman near me, who, surprisingly enough, laughed and clapped loudly (and alone) after almost every line.
Danny Bhoy - delivers his comedy with such a friendly demeanour, that it is hard not to like him. Kept me laughing across a show mainly about experiences in Australia, which can sometimes get dull in someone else's hands.

And still to come...
Daniel Kitson - delivered one of the best shows I've ever seen a few years ago, but hasn't found the same spark in recent years. Hope he fires up again.
Fiona O'Loughlin - always funny on tv, looking forward to her show.

(I do feel a little guilty for not seeing Ross Noble this year... he is still a favourite, but I was definitely developing comedy immunity there, so I hope a year off will do me well for next year...)

Movie mania

There's been a few film releases of late that I've been quite enthusiastic about, unlike a few months ago when there was absolutely nothing around.



300 - 300 was pretty awesome. Who doesn't like guys with swords destroying their enemies with skill, enthusiasm and the removal of limbs and heads? I was impressed with the CGI effects, washing the palette out into primarily browns and greys to mimic the graphic novel style of the source material - it certainly changes the viewing experience for the viewer compared to normal. I loved the amount of controversy, complaints and bad reviews this film got - can't anyone just go to the movies to have fun anymore?



Priceless - I used to want to punch Audrey Tautou in the face ever since I saw the promo poster for Amelie - she just exuded annoying-ness. Not sure I want to do that now, she was good in this movie. A French comedy (if the poster wasn't obvious enough), Priceless was great fun, and pretty amusing too.



Sunshine - This was a strange mix of 2001 and Event Horizon, with a twist of "save the world from freezing over by re-igniting the sun". Slow-paced and tense, it was almost ruined by the poor quality of the film we saw... scratches and lines across the entire screen affected some of the slow pans across the spacecraft and the face of the sun (kind of important in a film called "Sunshine"). I wouldn't say it was a "fun" film, but I certainly enjoyed it and it did have me on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out what would come next; again, it was something a little different to the multiplex cinema norm.

And the next few months are even better for movies (thank you, US summer)...

- Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean; At World's End, Ocean's 13, Spiderman 3, Live Free or Die Hard, 28 Weeks Later, Transformers, Blades of Glory, The Simpsons Movie -

The movie geek within is stirring...

Glacier Point

I saw this t-shirt as part of a 2 for $35 deal at JeansWest the other day (decent place for cheapo, everyday wear when it comes to t-shirts...).



OK, so it's a green t-shirt, with a bit of a cliched worn graphic, probably too fuzzy to even read here ("Yosemite" and "Glacier Point" is the main text). Not really stylish. Normally... yeah... whatever.

But...





Glacier Point is actually one of the most spectacular places I've ever been to in my life (these are some of the views from the lookout)... I know the t-shirt is isn't authentic or anything, but it would still be a nice reminder of a breath-taking moment.

I might buy it...

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Where is my mind?

Well, to be accurate, my mind probably keeps drifting back to the Pixies gig last night at the Music Bowl.

Fanboy time... they were pretty awesome, probably one of the few remaining acts in my catalogue of favourite bands that I hadn't yet had the chance to see live. They played an efficient set, song after song churned out.

Loud, soft, loud. But that's how they are.

Definitely a few goosebump moments, hearing a few particular tracks (Debaser, Monkey Gone to Heaven...) and seeing the reaction of the crowd to each song. We had great seats (yep, seats at the bowl - thank you Ticketmaster pre-sales) slightly to the right and two rows back into the second block of sets... better than the front sets, because we didn't have anyone in front of us; a nice, uninterrupted view for all of us, tall and short.

Wasn't sure how they would sound... Frank Black (is that his name these days, I can't keep up?) "talked" the first few lines of Bone Machine as the gig started, so I was worried how the rest of the set would sound - but no problems there, especially some of his screams. Was Kim "as cool as Kim Deal"? Yeah, although she didn't have much vocabulary beyond "thanks". But what definitely got me worried was when one of several inflatable beach balls got up and stage and Monkey Gone to Heaven got stopped because "the Pixies draw the line at beach balls". Fair enough too. I was seriously stressed that they would just walk off... but instead they had a conversation about how to restart the show, and then really loosened up.

Can I just say though, best of the V Festival... cheapo "festival" of the year. Minimal food choice, a single ridiculous bar area without much of a view (sardine tin, really - lucky I didn't bother going in)... a bunch of friends having a picnic in the park could almost do better. I suspect many punters were turned off by the price, despite having the Pixies on the line-up... it certainly didn't seem full at the bowl. They would have still made a mint though over the two nights. The two things that summed up the non-music aspects of the festival...
i. a guy who walked in ahead of me and I heard say "oh, I thought it was sponsored by Channel V", and
ii. the afore-mentioned beach balls messing up the Pixies... officially sponsored beach balls, complete with corporate logos of the festival sponsors.
Seriously, you idiots...

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Please do not try this at home

Yes, it's that time of year again. No, I'm not referring to autumn, or to Easter. I am, of course, talking about Wrestlemania, the biggest night of the year in the circus that is "sports entertainment". In case you didn't already realise, I'm a bit of a fan of the action and soap opera drama inside (and out) of the squared circle. No one quite does over-the-top athletic craziness and entertaining characters better than wrestling... so what's not to like??

Last night we went to a bit of a Wrestlemania party...

Dinner. Check. Drinks. Check. Junk food. Check. Wrestlemania on PPV. Check.

It was awesome.

I won't bore you with the details (if you're a fan, you'll already know them), but it was a night of body-slamming, ladder-crashing, head-shaving, midget-crushing, worm-eating, stone cold stunning insanity... insanity.

And yes, wrestling may be fake. But some of it is still pretty real...