As the Melbourne Silver Mine’s Unsensored 09 exhibition closes on Wednesday, I highly recommend heading down if you get the chance. It sounds like it has been quite successful, with a number of people passing through and some of the pieces have sold (multiple times!) My image hasn’t sold, but I was aiming to bring it home to adorn our wall instead. It certainly would have been nice to make a sale, but after agonising over the images, I decided to hang them just for the sake of hanging, rather than to make money. This is the first time my work has been displayed in public, and I’m quite content just to be able to see my work large and on the wall!

While on the subject of photography, I visited Scienceworks Museum last weekend to see the Star Wars exhibition. Taking my camera and a couple of lenses was the easy bit, but with many of the displays poorly lit and behind glass smeared with children’s fingerprints, getting the photos was a bit harder. I took my still new-ish 40D with my 50mm f/1.8, and by using my adaptor, I also had two Nikon mount lenses – 85mm f/1.4 and 24mm f/2.8. Unfortunately the former of these was of little use in the crowded rooms, but the 24mm was useful on occasion to get some close-ups of pieces.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to see any more movies at MIFF, but I did see the Whitlams playing at the Corner Hotel last weekend. Their show was quite extensive, with only one support and playing one album in full (Eternal Nightcap). It was a fantastic show with an intriguing crowd. Thankfully, MUFF starts soon, and I should be able to see a few more of those.

Just this weekend, I saw ‘Drag Me To Hell’ as it’s cinema run is finishing. I thoroughly enjoyed this, despite mixed reviews. There were moments where I momentarily cringed and thought it would go down hill, but it managed to redeem itself. The acting, for the most part, was very good, but I felt there were too many ‘jumps’ to be fun. It ended up distracting from the story and acting. On the whole though, it was fantastic. Hopefully this week I will manage to see District 9 too.

While I’m remembering, I never got around to mentioning the latest Harry Potter movie. As a movie, it was fantastic. The darkness, the acting and the effects were all very good and the movie moved along nicely. Obviously, as a comparison to the book, it’s disappointing. Many, apparently unimportant, aspects and scenes were left out, and there were huge chunks missing. Also, the scene of Dumbledore’s death, which could and should have been amazing, was a huge letdown.

Books and movies so far…

1. Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa – Alex Kershaw
2. American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
3. The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures – Louis Theroux
4. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
5. Slumdog Millionaire – Vikas Swarup
6. The Burn-out Town Of Miracles – Roy Jacobsen
7. 1984 – George Orwell
8. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
9. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac – Gabrielle Zevin
10. The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
11. War Trash – Ha Jin
12. Siberia – Ann Halam

Also currently reading “East Of Eden” by John Steinbeck and “A Cork on the Waves” by Halina Robinson.

So although I’m halfway through the year, I’m nowhere near the halfway point of 42 books of last year! Despite this, I haven’t been watching as many movies as I promised myself either.

I have watched some though. I’ve started to watch/re-watch the Star Wars collection (I saw the first three when I was younger but can barely remember them, and never saw the new ones) – which I’m enjoying. I’ve watched the first two of the original trilogy, and am grateful for the refresher.

I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine at the cinema recently. It was quite disappointing, as I’d heard from many people. The balance of action and character development is poor. The characters and relationships went too far, and the action could have been much better. Don’t get me wrong, it’s much better than a lot of movies out there at the moment, but it could have been as good as the other X-Men movies at least!

Also recently in the cinema, I saw a movie entitled ‘Flesh Gordon’. Now, I haven’t seen the more appropriately titled ‘Flash Gordon’, nor know anything about it. But I loved this movie. The poor recording quality (it’s from the 70s), the lack of technology and budget for the action and the c/d/e/f-grade actors all come together to make a very entertaining Friday evening! It was shown at ACMI in Fed Square, which seems to have a lot of old, odd or local movies showing.

A few weeks back, I saw ‘Deliverance’ at ACMI too, which definitely better than the modern hillbilly movies. I liked that the story followed the characters at the end, and again, the lack of technology and budget just added to the charm.

Anyway, I haven’t been watching as many movies as I could have been, but I am thinking about the ones I see more – as I did with the books I read last year. I mentally review each one in my mind, even if I’m not typing it all up!

Slumdog Millionaire

When the hype surrounding the movie began to build up, I remembered that I had bought the book and decided, as usual, to read that before I saw the movie. Although I’m not one to believe the hype, the movie sounded interesting enough – the story had potential, they were mixing Indian with Western culture and I was interested to see Dev Patel in a role other than a comedic character in Skins.

While reading the book, I thought it was far too simple. The story was obvious and predictable and the language and techniques used were simple. On the other hand, it was a different kind of story to most of those I read – each chapter of his life relating to the answer of a question on the show, and all coming together at the end – it was formulaic but interesting. Overall I wouldn’t have thought very much of the story – it reminded me of Dan Brown in its simplicity and never-ending action! This all changed when I saw the movie however.

The movie was terrible. Characters were poorly formed (although the three ‘ages’ worked well), the story was all but completely changed and even the characters’ names differed from the book. In a movie as it’s own right, I would probably rate it as mediocre. The film score was brilliant and worked well, but scenes weren’t all consistent with those preceding and following. The idea from the book of his telling a story of how he knows the answer to questions was only used very loosely, and many of the questions were changed so that they could leave out entire subplots and characters.

Retrospectively, I now see the book as quite good, with a creative story and good use of characters. It’s simple, but very heartwarming and gives a vague insight into the lives of those that live in the slums for the Western audience. The movie, in comparison to the book, is positively terrible. Even if it were only loosely based, the basis is thrown out the window and Hollywood came in to trample over the remaining values and ideas.

The actors cannot be faulted, as they, for the most part, played their roles spotlessly. The children from the first part were especially great – although the ’scandal’ and media circus now surrounding them is disappointing. Dev Patel was interesting to see in a different role, but for the most part he simply sat there and looked miserable – in my eyes there is much more his character could have done.

I feel bad for dismissing the movie so quickly, as I do like Danny Boyle’s work – Trainspotting and Millions are great movies, probably making it to my top 20 if I had to form a list. However, I think he’s failed on this count and should have stayed clear – if it were more loyal to the book, it may have worked. Granted there are many more aspects to a book, but even the Harry Potter movie/book comparisons are better than this!

“Bit chilly”

Ok, not in Melbourne, but in England! I’m sure most of you have heard about the copious amounts of snow covering first the south east, and now most of the rest of the UK.

While I lived there for 8-9 years, there were the odd flurries of perhaps 3 inches, nothing much and it was slushy by lunch time. This recent cold snap has bucketed up to 12 inches (30cm ruler) worth over some areas! Crazy! Of course, the country has stopped accordingly, but at least it’s given people a chance to enjoy the novelty of enough snow to frolick in for a few days as offices and schools have shut and public transport grinds to a halt (not that it takes much – the wrong kind of leaves is enough as most Brits will know!)

This is at my parents’ place just outside of the M25 in Surrey. This is how much snow fell on the table in their backyard over 2 days.

So although I’m missing out on the novelty of enough snow to have fun, I’m currently enjoying delightful 30 degree days and cooler nights which don’t leave me sweating excessively.

As part of my ‘resolution’ of sorts to watch more movies, I’ve been doing quite well – seen perhaps 5 so far, which is a lot for me! The one I feel worth a mention is American Psycho. Now I read the book of this, and enjoyed it. Although, as I was told, it is lacking in plot, it’s a great book. I feel it’s closer to a sequence of events taken from a person’s life, rather than a story which would contain events starting and finishing – this book is left ongoing.

The movie focuses more on the character’s realisations and relationships. Although I’m not a huge fan of Christian Bale, he plays Patrick very well – especially in dialogue. I was impressed they managed to get the music speeches in, and in an effective manner. One part that did let me down was lack of gore. Having heard so much about the book being gory, and my desensitised mind also noting it, I was saddened and surprised that there weren’t many scenes in the movie. Despite this, it works – simply because the rest of the movie is so strong. I was very impressed and glad I can cross off another popular book that I’ve been meaning to read.

So the beginning of 2009 has been quite busy so far, even if work has been thankfully quiet.

Having taken Friday 2nd off work so I could have a four-day-weekend, I arranged to see someone from the Melbourne Flickr group to hand over some Ilford photo paper which I no longer has use for. Meeting in Borders was not a great idea, as I arrived early enough to look at a lot of books. With some self-control, I didn’t buy anything, had a coffee with Zaeem and went on my way.

I headed down to the NGV as I have been meaning to do for many weeks, to see the Andreas Gursky exhibition. Despite being $15 to see a handful of photos, I was rather impressed. When photos are so big that you can stand directly in front of it and see detail of hundreds of faces (his picture from Pyongyang) and the detail of item in stores (his 99c store, probably his best known shot), you can’t help but feel inadequate. Having to strain your neck to see more detail in a photo as large as that is so unusual, but it’s definitely worth it and has made me want to enlarge my work more.

After that I just relaxed and saw some friends until Sunday 4th. A group of us from Flickr were meeting at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Southbank for a few drinks. It was a warm but relaxing afternoon and I came home earlier than usual so that I could catch up on sleep before going back to work on Monday. The four-day-weekend felt more like a week off by the time I got back at work.

During the week I tried out a small restaurant in Richmond called The Rainbow-Silent-Heart, a small vegan/vegetarian place. The food was cheap, delicious and different to what I usually eat. I had the Bliss Burger and my friend had a peanut satay stir-fry, which was more like a curry. I found a voucher in the Entertainment book for it, so thought it a good a reason as any to try somewhere new.

Thursday night was my chance to see Atmosphere with Brother Ali and Murs. I hadn’t realised that the main set was Atmosphere feat. Brother Ali, and as I didn’t know any of Brother Ali’s work, it was a little alien. Murs’ set was fantastic, and really livened up the crowd. When Slug came out with Brother Ali doing his thing, he couldn’t stop smiling, and they both seemed to really enjoy themselves. Alternating a few songs each, with Ant doing the DJ work all the way through, the show lasted a while but probably felt longer because I had a headache!

At one stage I noticed that some people around me were smoking some joints and was a little surprised that the guys collecting the glasses didn’t really care – they walked past and just smiled at the guys even though they were obviously the ones smoking. It was interesting to see that they cared so little about flouting of laws.

There were some other interesting people there including a girl who was dancing in what she though was a sexy manner, but was so out of time with the beat that she just looked a bit stupid; there was a guy who I think was limping, but could have just been doing the ‘cool’ gaited walk that a lot of hip-hop kids seem to do and some people who looked around 12 years old and had either snuck in with a fake ID or just had a baby face. All in all, a great night with a varied crowd and some new music for me. Very enjoyable night, although I could have done with a little more sleep!

Friday night I was at a friend’s place again, so still lacking on sleep, I went out on Saturday to another Flickr meet. We met a little earlier to take some portraits of each other, with most of us being reluctant models! It was successful though, and then we moved up to Section 8, a small outdoor bar setup in a lane. Thankfully it was a great, sunny day and under the trees and shade, it was a beautiful afternoon. It was a much bigger turnout than usual with some new faces and old faces coming for the first time in a while.

They had some good music on: hip hop, followed by jazz and blues, but it did get loud later on and a bit too much for the mellow mood we had set during the afternoon. It was a brilliant afternoon though, and although not the cheapest, I could easily go back there again soon.

With the rest of the week staying warmer than the last few, I’m excited that summer is finally here.

Into 2009

So, 2008 has finished. I’ve been pretty happy with what I’ve done through the year – kept the photography going, gained a full-time permanent job, planned my first holiday alone and have been enjoying an active social life!

The next year will obviously bring a lot of new things. The main one that I’m excited about at the moment is a trip to New Zealand from the 6th-12th March. I’ll be flying into Wellington and out of Christchurch, so I’ll spend a few nights in each town and hopefully take plenty of photos while I’m there. This is my first trip on my own, and although I’m looking forward to the isolation, I’ll probably be staying in hostels just so I don’t lose all social skills while I”m there!

Other than that, I have a few shows booked in already. This week I’ll be seeing the American hip-hop act Atmosphere at their sideshow. I’m really excited about that, being my first hip-hop show and my first of 2009. It should be a good one.

The next is only slightly embarrassing, Human Nature with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. I’ve liked them since I was little, but never seen them, so this is something new for me. Even though I’ll be on my own, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it!

The next show will be one of the Comfest shows; Dylan Moran tickets went on sale a month or so ago. So tickets have already been booked for that, and there is much excitement for Danny Bhoy and Adam Rozenbachs who are both at this year’s Comfest! Can’t wait!

The end of 2008 also saw me finish reviewing all books I read. Along similar lines, I’ve decided to try and watch more movies this year instead. I only watch a new one every month or so, and yet watch ones I like more often. I’ll be trying to watch more classics, as well new popular and less popular ones. I doubt I’ll review them as I have the books, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.

Besides all of this, I plan on continuing with both film and digital photography. I’m still looking for a developing tank so that I can develop and scan my own negatives at home. There is also a chance my parents will be sending me an old Brownie box camera at some point, which will give me a chance to use a different format of film (I’m not sure which yet).

So hopefully 2009 will be enjoyable for me, with new things to see and learn, and plenty of new movies.

43. The Life, The Universe and Everything – Douglas Adams

This looks like it’ll be the last book of 2008, but that’s not to say I haven’t tried! I have 3 or 4 other books on the go, but none of them will be finished now that I’ve started on the beer!

This was another book from the trilogy (of five) which was, like the others, enjoyable. The story was a continuation of the others, as expected, and the characters were all the same. I liked that the main characters from the other stories were separated though, and the stories were not all linked until the very end.

There isn’t much more to say on this, but I enjoyed it. However, I’ll take a break before I read the other two, as I have too many other books on the go! Sense and Sensibility, a Robert Capa book, Engineer of the Human Soul (which I don’t think I’l finish) and probably a few more. On top of that, I have countless others that Ive bought and not read, as well the library.

I’ve enjoyed this year, as I’ve made a conscious effort to read more. Instead of wasting time on forums, I’ve taken half an hour and read a bit more of the latest book. I reckon I slowed down in July when I started my new job, as I no longer had the tram journey to read. I probably won’t do as many entries next year, perhaps only if a book is particularly good.

42. The Madman’s Tale – John Katzenbach

I had read this book before, perhaps 2 or so years ago, but I’d forgotten how it ended, so I decided to read it again not long ago.

The story is based around a man who was in a mental institution but now lives alone, who has what we suppose to be is schizophrenia. Invited to a memorial for the community, including residents of the institution, he begins to remember events that passed while he stayed he there – a murder. The events pass in a fast-paced style and with increasing interest in the relationship between the detective, Francis and Peter. Disappointing to me, nothing comes from it and instead there is only attention to the murder-mystery which the story is based around.

As I said, I could not remember how it ended, and although the story was good, the ending disappointed me – as I feel it probably did last time. It is, as many murder-mysteries are, anti-climatic. The build-up does not amount to much, and I felt let down. Despite this, the story itself is actually very good and I will probably read it again in a couple more years when I can’t remember how it ends.

41. The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe – Douglas Adams

After having read ‘Hitchhikers..’ several times, I found the book of four of them (excluding ‘Mostly Harmless’) in the famous $5 book shop. Reading them in order is quite good, although they’ve started to blend quite easily together.

Although not all about the restaurant at the end of the universe, it’s an enjoyable and as the others, very easy to read story. I’m not sure there’s too much more to say. I liked it.

40. Tales of Beedle the Bard – J. K. Rowling

And here I thought that my year would end without having read anything by J. K. Rowling. Thankfully that wasn’t so, and this book was released at the beginning of this month – and although not a Harry Potter book, included some characters, stories told in the last book, and many similar themes.

A delightfully simple book of children’s fairytales, all wizarding themed, with notes from Dumbledore following each, quite often referring to previous Harry Potter books. They have some similar themes to ‘true’ fairytales, but are written shorter, simpler and with words like ‘muggle’ frequently mentioned.

It’s also made me want to re-read all seven Harry Potter books again. And perhaps watch the movies and complain about them.