2008: A Celebration of Some Amazing Lives

As the year draws to a close, I think it's time to celebrate a few of the lives that ended in 2008. Not in a maudlin way, but in a spirit of celebration and joy. This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch, 2008 seemed to be a year when we said goodbye to many icons and famous names, but a more idiosyncratic art fag(ish) list of my own, stacked heavy with entertainers, artists and those who have somehow contributed to the cultural zeitgeist.

If you believe in reincarnation as I do, it's comforting to think that they are probably out there preparing to be fabulous all over again!

Miss Eartha Kitt, with kittehs (Chanteuse).


Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (actress, intergalactic nurse, spouse of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and the voice of the computer in numerous Star Trek incarnations).


Ted Lapidus (fashion designer, former dresser of the Beatles & Bardot, largely credited with democratising fashion by concentrating on affordable ready to wear, including unisex styles, flares and military style jackets).


Van Johnson (matinee idol, closeted gay actor).


Paul Newman (actor, humanitarian, devoted husband, good sort).


Bettie Page (pin-up).


Jorn Utzon (architect, great Dane).


Christie Allen (Singer, she gave us 'goosebumps, heart thumps, she made our motor run' for a brief while in Oz in the 1980s).


Pauline Baynes (illustrator, most famous for her illustrations for the C.S. Lewis "Narnia" novels and various Tolkein works).


Dorian Leigh (model, fashion icon).


Cyd Charisse (dancer, actress, leggy brunette).


David Brierly (actor, voice actor who was the voice of K9 in Dr Who).


Yves Saint Laurent (couturier).


John Phillip Law (actor, sexy angel Pygar from "Barbarella" amongst other roles).



Gary Gygax (Dungeons & Dragons game inventor, Supreme OverNerd, childhood hero).

Transitional Space

The 30th of December. Almost the turn of the year, and the start of the new one. Tall & Handsome is on a plane heading home, and we probably won't see each other again until Easter. Not something ending, but a transitional space of sorts. Even on a mundane level work is so quiet in this transitional space between Christmas and New Year that it feels like another form of marking time, being in a holding pattern waiting for things to start up again.

I like transitions, change. This year I'm looking forward to the change of the year. I might not celebrate it, the jury is still out on that one, as I'm not much of a one for the difficulties, stresses and travails of trying to get anywhere on New Year's Eve. However, even if I stay home I'll be embracing the idea of 2009. Whatever it brings.

By The Pricking Of My Thumbs

Something Moffitt this way comes.

Muse.



Collaborator.



Icon.


"Basic Black"

About "Basic Black" Peggy Moffitt's husband William Claxton wrote:

“In 1967 Peggy and I had just returned from ’swinging London’ and Paris to work in New York. We were commissioned by a small commercial production company to come up with something which would serve as my ‘reel’ in order to get hired to direct TV commercials. While sitting on our bed at the Algonquin Hotel, we collaborated in writing a shooting script that would show fashion, makeup, and hair on three beautiful models wearing the fashion designs of avant-garde Rudi Gernreich’s collection for that fall. We shot the film on a weekend, had original music composed for the sound track and ‘Basic Black’ was born. It was very well received, won several awards and has been referred to as the first fashion video.”

A short but fab 2001 interview. Moffitt's husband Claxton was an amazing photographer, and with his shots of her was partly responsible for creating her striking image. Sadly he passed away in October this year, and Richele has written a lovely tribute over at Richie Design.

Peggy Moffitt. We LOVE her.

Balls!

250g of yummy Bilby Yarns natural undyed 2ply laceweight wool yarn from Tall & Handsome + ball winder (also from Tall & Handsome, spoilt!) = lots of delicious little yarn cakes.

Small Mystery Explained!

I've always loved the song "Cloudbusting" by Kate Bush, and the accompanying film clip. It's hard to imagine now, but this clip was something quite new in it's portrayal of a little mini story that enhanced the song. MTV and other clip shows had opened up the possibilities, and Kate had the budget and influence to be able to spend what would have been a considerable amount on a clip.

Anyhoo, what I always wondered was... what's the book in Donald Sutherland's pocket that she makes such a point of showing? And yet, it's pretty quick and too hard to make out what the book is. Well, thanks to youtube mystery solved! Here's an early MTV interview where she explains the book that influenced the song and the clip.

~~~~~

While I'm beating around the Bush, check out this great live clip of "Running Up That Hill" with Dave Gilmour. For me, there's a couple of things that make it most excellent. a) It shows that La Bush has the vocal chops to give a great live performance and b) the third performer on stage turns in a stunning performance, the other guitarist's mullet. That thing has to be seen to be believed, and probably had its own groupies.

Rubik Cubism

Analogue art for the Pixel Generation Rubik Cubism.



Aside from the initial wow factor I find this really interesting. In effect it isn't really that far from 19th century pointillism, probably the most famous of which is Seurat's riverbank park scene "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte". The pointillists were experimenting with pure colour and the light mixing that goes on in human vision, in order to create vibrant and 'pure' colours. By being limited to the small number of bright colours on a Rubik's Cube the creators are taking advantage of the exact same colour mixing techniques. (Like pointillism these works are best seen from a distance, or in the case of these as thumbnails.)



In concept though I think this is more about computer era pixel art. I remember making game sprites on the Commodore 64 way back in the early days of computers, and using the small grid and limited colours to make little Space Invader style monster sprites (that did nothing but move from one side of the screen to the other, but were still awesome). Jump forward 20 plus years and there is a whole Pixel Art movement. Artists pushing individual pixels in a grid, in software like Microsoft Paint, to create (often quaint) artworks.

The nostalgia and wow factor comes from the materials. So clever to think of using the colours and natural grid of a Rubik's Cube to replicate the same effect! There's quite some budget at work here, having the funds to buy that many Rubik's Cubes, and lots and lots of time and skill spent turning the buggers to create the right colour grid for each one. I would assume that modern technology has come into play in preparing the works, loading a photographic image into software, enlarging the pixel grid and limiting the colour palette in order to plan the works.

Digital meets Analogue.

[Link via things magazine.]

Pagan Rites

Or as we like to call them, New Year's Eve plans.

[Photos by Nick Knight for Galliano Menswear.]

Hear My Dulcit Tones! Listen To Those Sibilant Esssssssses!

I totally forgot to post a link to my little interview on David Reidy's podcast "Sticks & String" a couple of weekends ago!

David came along to the knitting in public event at the Opera House on the 14th, and interviewed me for a couple of minutes. If you're not a knitter you'll have to listen to lots of knitting talk before my dulcit tones chime in, or (shhhhhh, don't tell David) if you want to fast forward I'm a little bit before the halfway point. Ish. After me David interviews a fellow male knitter, Courthouse Hotel pub knitting regular and my good friend, Kerry.

If you are a knitter (or are knitcurious, or questioning) then check out the rest of David's podcasts. The episode I'm in is Episode 87: S.K.I.P.

Let The Parade Of Desserts Commence!

OMG. I may never, ever eat again. I possibly said that last year, the year before, and so on, so clearly I cannot be trusted on this... but that's my plan. I'm not waiting until New Year, I'm making a Christmas Resolution.

So. Thoughts on Christmas Day...

I love my friends. A huge dinner table for 20, or so, barely seats us all and that includes the inevitable absences. Friends who've moved overseas, interstate, or just have other plans. The rag tag bunch of us now includes many ankle biters underfoot, which has added a further dimension to Christmas. Oliver and I made the lion puzzle, the zebra puzzle, the elephant puzzle and of course the giraffe puzzle, then back through the cycle a couple of times more. At no point were giraffe legs combined with a lion head, frankly between the two of us we put the intelligent into intelligent design.

Not to mention that once the thorny issue of the difference between the words assume and presume reared its head, we couldn't let the issue die without an answer. In a nutshell, they are functionally the same except some of the secondary meanings differ. Perhaps I'm being assumptuous, but I presume you're as interested as we were.

The food. Oh, the food. The glorious, glorious food. Meaghan pulled out all the stops, with Christmas favourites like a huge leg of ham, and some new dishes such as a string bean and pomegranate salad dish that was to die. To. Die. Are five desserts too many? I think it was five. Pudding... pavlova... chocolate cake (with raspberries and raspberry sorbet)... the ne plus ultra of panacotta with jellied mulled wine glaze.... I know that's only four I've listed, but trust me it felt like five.

I did fairly well in the giftage this year. Everything I gave seemed to go down a treat, including a rave review of the scarf. My sister was gobsmacked that I had made something so beautiful (her words), which is high praise indeed. I received a few fab gifts, primarily knitting related; a wonderful ball winder (dirty?), some great books, some scrummy yarn. I see a Boxing Day spent winding some balls. How about you?

So, a nice Christmas. Fairly chilled out during the day, with a lovely social evening. Capped off afterwards with a major food coma and supine staring at The International Dancesport Championships (known as ballroom dancing by civilians) on tv from the comfort of my own couch. Just when you thought it couldn't get any gayer. (Someone tell the Pope, put a fatwa on Dancesport and save the world.) Now it's late and I'm watching a German comedy on tv, which is an über camp take off of Star Trek, with what appears to be an all gay crew. Plus the extremely nummy Til Schweiger.

At least, I think I am. It may be the result of that 4th dessert...

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a lovely day!

My Christmas Message

Merry Christmas everybody! If you don't celebrate Christmas, or celebrate something else, well I wish you a very merry that too.

Oh, except for Pope Blah Blah The Whatever (I can't even bring myself to look up his correct name and number) I don't wish him anything. And that's because the generousity of the spirit of Christmas moves within me, because otherwise I'd be imagining squeezing his head. Hard. The old man in a dress and pumps gave his Christmas speech the other day and labelled me, and all my queer brothers and sisters, a scourge. Equal in threat to humanity with global warming.

Just how many flamers does it take to warm this globe?

So, I'm having a lovely Christmas morning but I'm also offended and annoyed. On the one hand he's a silly old fart in a dress, but on the other hand he's a silly old fart in a dress that millions of people around the world listen to and look to for guidance. Be on your guard heteros, we're out to get you! You and your procreating ways! Ugh. (Seriously, we want you to breed, someone's got to make more poofs and lezzers.)

So my Christmas message is the anti-Pope message this year. One of the reasons the gay community has embraced the rainbow flag as an emblem is because it takes all the colours of light to make a rainbow. That includes all you Straighty McStraightertons, and all the shades through to my own deepest pink. So think about embracing the concept of otherness this Christmas. Hug a hetero. Embrace a bisexual. Shake hands with a butch. Think about equanimity, and not separating ourselves off from others by the labels we attach to them. Sure, if you get to know them and they turn out to be assholes, well, so be it. At least we all gave them the benefit of the doubt, right?

Just don't let the message of intolerance and judgement spoil your Christmas. If you're a Christian, well maybe spare a prayer for the old man in a dress. A prayer for guidance and tolerance would be a nice place to start.

One More Sleep

Christmas Eve everyone!



I'm having a quiet one in tonight. All through the house not a thing is stirring, not even a mouse. (Not since I set those traps anyway. Kidding!) Tall & Handsome drove north today to see friends and family and will be away until Sunday, when he's back briefly before heading back home clear across the country. My Christmas plans involve a sleep in and a lazy morning, a Christmas phone call with my family interstate, catching up with friends in the afternoon, dinner... and oodles of good cheer.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas Eve, wherever you are and however you are spending it. Now get to bed or else Santa will never come!

The Chrissie Pissie, 2008

One of the benefits of blogging for a while is being able to go back and revisit memories from previous years. I wrote about our annual Chrissie Pissie get-together in 2007, 2006, 2005 and it's fun to go back and remember those years.

As always, the 2008 edition was a fab afternoon of catching up with friends, eating, drinking and exchanging $15 crap/fabulous gifts. This year the signs of change were noticeable, a few new partners and friends, some absentees as some friends have moved away and so were weren't there, children that seem to have almost grown exponentially. But the enjoyment of the afternoon and evening was unchanged.

Zoe.


Daen gets upsized in the inflatable Santa suit.


The lads; Nick, Mikey and Evan.


Megz was the lucky recipient of the inflatable Santa suit. One of the hits of the day.


Jasper, and the ole ball and chain.

Done!

I pushed it right to the wire, but my sister's Christmas gift lace scarf is finished. I had a tiny bit of yarn left over, and could have added another 5-10cm to the length, but it got to late last night and I thought "really, in the scheme of things - what difference does 5cm make?".

Plus, today was my deadline to get it into a courier bag and sent off to my family in Victoria, so it was a pretty tight deadline. I've been working on a sleep debt all week so once it got to be late enough that my eyes were crossing from tiredness, I figured it was time to be done with the knitting bit and start blocking it.

So I cast it off, washed it and pinned it out to block into shape. It's not really until you get to this last step of stretching it to dry into shape that knitted lace really comes alive, everything neatens and opens up, and you look at it and think "wow, I made that!".

I hope she likes it!

Santa Baby

Slip a something under the tree, for me.



Apologies for a paucity of posting, a dearth of disclosure, of late. We are currently so busy with Chrismukkah and Tall & Handsome-ness that we are doing 6 impossible things before breakfast. Some days seven! Cold fusion is on the list, but I may not get to it. This morning was a bijou Hangover Morning as we were at a leather bar until around 2.30am. And yet, I was still lined up at the Post Office at 9.30am. See, impossible!

I have a cake to bake, and then we're off to two social events this afternoon. A cake to re-bake I should say. Here's a hint kids, be sure and buy Self Raising Flour when the recipe calls for it, and don't just grab any old flour packet off the shelf in a fugue state of Supermarket Overload. Meanwhile I have a yummy frisbee if anyone wants one.

Kisses.

Epic Name Fail

Har!

5 Things About Thursday 18th December, 2008: Festive Edition

• I made my first Kiva micro-loan last night. I thought it would be nice to exercise the spirit of giving a little at this time of year, and once I saw that the Peruvian dry goods owner Consuelo wanted a short term loan to buy fruitcake, wine and champagne... well, could you resist?
  
• Tall & Handsome and I braved the crowds of late night shopping tonight. Surprisingly neither of us had a meltdown, snapped at each other or pushed a small child over. We actually had a nice dinner at Wagamama at around the halfway point, which helped.
  
• I spent about $100 bucks on myself, which I hadn't planned. You know how it is, you get into that spending groove. The lights, the decorations, the carols. Next thing you know you're buying $75 of discounted knitting yarn.
  
• You know what, Merry Christmas to me!
  
• I'm just about done, giftwise. I still have a crazy list of things to do by Sunday night though. Buy just one or two more gifts. Make a cake. Go to a knitting get-together, and a couple of parties. Tall & Handsome and I are even planning a night out together at a late night leather bar. Festive!

Santa: The Original Funtime Bear

Discuss.



(I'm sorry, now I've started with the Christmas crapola... I just can't stop.)

Exactly How Many More Than A Pair Is A "Cluster"?

Meet me under the Christmas tree...



...and I'll kiss you under the balls.

Surprise!

Well, one thing I wasn't expecting when I arrived at work today was to have one of the secretaries come around with a festive envelope addressed to little ole me. "Sign here" she requested, so I signed and was duly handed a red envelope bearing the name of one of our larger retail conglomerates. It turns out that a couple of years ago the staff unanimously elected via a vote to forgo the torture and morning after recriminations joys of a company Christmas Party, for a Christmas gift from the company instead.

So thinking "Score, what's this $30 bucks or sumfink?" I unwrapped a $150- gift card. Nice. Usable in a whole string of stores, including a couple of department stores, KMart, Target and even a liquor store. Helll-lllo Christmas!

Not bad after 2 weeks in the job.

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like...

Sorry, distracted. How does that song go again?

Monday Night

Shnnnuggles on the sofa. Making dinner for two. A glass of wine. Watching the telly together. A bit of honey, sweetie, I know you want to chat but I'm trying to write a blog post and as lovely as you ruffling my hair is, um, could you give me like 5 minutes thanks pet? And now he's doing the dishes.

Score.

Knitting In Public: Christmas Edition

I'm not sure who floated the idea originally, but a few weeks back I heard that the Australian Knitters group on Ravelry were thinking of getting together for a Christmas gathering. To sort of do an informal version of a knitting in public day, because frankly the only problem with the international Knitting In Public Day is that it's during Winter here. Knitting in Winter is no hardship, but couple that with being outdoors in the midst of one of the worst Sydney rainstorms in 30 years... not so great!

So. What could be better than hanging out with a bunch of my knitting peeps at the Opera House? Taking a few hours out of an otherwise very busy weekend to just enjoy the company of my knitting buddies, and add some more length to the Christmas scarf I have to get finished for my sister. I got there a bit early, so wandered around in the sunshine and snapped some detail pics of that lovely complex of buildings known as The Opera House.

One of the things I love about the building, is that if you get up close and personal with it it shows all sorts of faces. Shiny. Rough and angular. Geometric. Sinuously curvy. You can see the understructure, even to the point of the moulds used to pour the concrete. The ribs that were inspired by palm fronds. The structure that the building sits on which is like a mesa, or an aztec temple, one giant staircase that creates an incredible sense of anticipation, of arrival once you gain the top.

Aside from the stiff wind off of the harbour, the Sidewalk Cafe under the Opera House was just about perfect to sit and knit the afternoon away. I hung out, knitted and chatted until about 5pm, when I headed off to Parramatta to celebrate my friend Ian's 50th birthday. Tall & Handsome arrived back in Sydney from his field trip at about the same time, so we met up in Parramatta to have dinner and celebrate with Ian.

We didn't get back to Newtown until well after 11 last night, and considering I had been out at Mikey (the lovely ex's) fabulous 40th birthday until nearly 5am early Sunday morning (5am!), I was pooped. Zombie-style pooped. Walking Dead, coming through! So we fell into bed and suddenly it was Monday morning. Way too quickly, but after an action packed and fun weekend.

[Click any of the pics to en-biggen them on Flickr and read more details.]

Friday-ness

I was a bit broken today, I have to say. Two farewell functions last night, on a school night nonetheless, a couple (or three) beers at one, a third share in two bottles of wine and then a couple of beers at the other. Oy. It was a fun night though, and although it sounds a lot like just a drinkfest it was actually more about friendships, and good food and conversation.

Keith is heading off to Melbourne, to a new relationship and to study theology. Damien is off to China, to some trekking, travel blogging and lots of exploring the food of China. I caught up with Keith and a bunch of our friends at the pub, before heading off to meet James and Damien. It seemed only fitting to go to a Chinese restaurant, and James informed me we were heading to "Sea Bay" in the city. "Sea Bay" turned out to be the place I have always known as That Dumpling Place, and although the formica tables and general decor have had an upgrade, I'm happy to report none of the dumplings have had a downgrade.

Tall & Handsome is away on a botany field trip until Sunday (just in case you wondered why he didn't feature in last night's drinkathon festivities). Lots of my friends read this blog and consequently have heard of him, and want to meet him. So far his schedule has meant he's been away when we've had get-togethers planned, so he's still a bit of a mystery. A secret. One I've been writing about on The Internets. (Can that still be a secret?) I've been thinking a lot about him though, and I'm looking forward to him getting back on Sunday night. I hope the weather on his field trip has been better than here in the city. It has poured down unrelentingly all day today, and is expected to continue all night. Even if tomorrow is going to soar up to 34C! (95F-ish) Weather is weird.

Tomorrow night is a combined Big Four Oh birthday party for the artistes known here as Mikey (the lovely ex) and World Peace And A Speedboat. 40! Bless. I remember it well. Sort of, because that party was a bit of a boozefest, frankly. (Does it count that between then and now there a couple of years where I didn't drink at all?) Tomorrow will be busy, and a late night probably. Sunday I'll probably head off to a big Christmas get-together at the Opera House for the local knitting community.

So it's a quiet, rainy, Tall & Handsome-less Friday night tonight. I've just made myself a veggie omelette for dinner. I might drag out the knitting. Maybe watch a bit of telly and listen to the rain thundering down outside. Not a bad night in, really.

Beautiful People

I said beau-tiful people
You know they're going out tonight to get their Bombay rocks off
Beau-tiful people
They've got a Kerouac conditon, got a cocaine cough
Beau-tiful people
Studio fifty-four is the only place to dance
Beau-tiful people
You know the garden's full of furniture, the house is full of plants

"Beautiful People", Australian Crawl 1979

Rudolph Valentino


Unknown beauty


Sari Maritza


Johnny Weissmuller


Guy Madison

Thursday

I went to work. I got paid. I went to the pub to say farewell to Keith before he moves to Melbourne. I had a few beers. Then I went to dinner with James and Damo, to say farewell to Damien before he goes to China for a holiday. We had a fab Chinese dinner (fyi, jellyfish is less interesting than it sounds) with 2 bottles of wine. We went out for a beer or two afterwards. I caught a cab home, a little drunk. Quite a bit drunk. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight!

[Updated: It's Friday now and I'm taking in my first effort at drunken blogging! Not too bad I guess. A little uninspired in terms of sentence structure, but punctuated. I'm somewhat hung over this morning, but not too bad. TGIF!]

5 Things About Wednesday December 10th, 2008: Gainful Employment Edition

• One and a half weeks into my new job and it's going well! Interesting enough, with enough manageable work, to keep me busy but without the crazy struggles of my last job. And the pay is much, much better.
  
• On the downside, there is a large company funded sweets jar (lolly jar, candy jar, pot de confiserie, whatever your term) right next to my workstation. Within arm's reach. Without even too much stretching.
  
• To try and counteract its siren call, I took along a plastic container of fruit today. Grapes, lychees and some cut up watermelon.
  
• It was delicious... but I still had 4 caramels. I'm only human!
  
• The evening news is full of doom, doom, doom tonight. One mining company is shedding 14,000 staff. Estimates of financial sector jobs lost year to date in Sydney is up to 19,000. It makes me so thankful to have gotten into permanent full-time employment, and out of temping. And also so concerned for those facing the end of 2008 without employment.
  

Hot Cops

Or cop singular. Rookie, actually. Ladies and ladies I bring you Belgian hottie Nicolas Gob (let's overlook the name at this point), who plays out gay police rookie Kevin on the French show "Les Bleus" (The Rookies). The show has been around for a little while, and just started its second season in France. I first heard about the show on the media blog After Elton, but only recently got around to checking it out on youtube.



Nicolas does a lovely job. Late in the storyline a loved one ends up in hospital, and Nicolas gets to excercise his acting chops. Not just a pretty face... and a hot set of pecs.



Kevin falls for fellow cop Yann. Kevin slowly outs himself to all his workmates. Meanwhile fending off the advances of his closest gal pal.



In between there are bits and pieces of police procedural stuff, although the youtube clips are pretty much only really of the Kevin and Yann storyline. Youtube user Ztube31 has a playlist of 19 subtitled clips of Kevin's storyline in the show.

I cannot overstate how much we love this blue muscle shirt.

It's worth checking out. Not just for the blue muscle shirt.

A One Man Economic Recovery Machine

Our Prime Minister is exhorting people to get out there and spend, spend, spend. Oh sure, he's talking to the 'pensioners' and 'families' in particular, and he's giving them a bonus to encourage them to do so, but I'm a patriotic Australian. I take the words of our Prime Minister seriously.

When they suit me.

My new work paid me my first 3 days of work a week earlier than I expected, and unexpected money always feels like a gift, right? So last Saturday I braved the heat, and proceeded to cast my largesse far and wide. Paid it forward. I bought birthday gifts. I bought myself a new shirt. (Marcs, 50% off. Nice.) I bought a new tie. I bought wine and beer for Tall & Handsome's visit this week. I bought fabric, at 25% off the already discounted price... and hello, one of them is a black and blue check destined to be a kilt, so frankly I had no willpower against it. Oh yeah, I put a new sewing machine on layby.



Squeeee. Huskystar C20. On sale. My eyes rolled back in my head when I realised there were like 8 different types of buttonholes or sumfink. EIGHT. That's probably 5 or 6 more than I'll ever need! Awesome.

By the time I was shopping for shoes, the realisation that I had a list of Christmas gifts to buy at some point, started to put some of the brakes on. And by 'brakes' of course I mean guilt.

But, oh my dears, it felt so good to be doing my bit for Australia.

St Trinian's

Sister Concepta's trust was frequently misplaced.

Please Tell Me, Am I Tripping?

We're not a huge fan of Christmas. Giving is fun. We like gift giving. Shopping to the same deadline that everyone else has, whilst battling the Aussie Christmas heat... not so much. (I think this is going to be a hot summer, today was the hottest December day in 3 years.)

This year I've considered upping the meds. Getting a little week long buzzy buzz happening that should see me past Boxing Day. If you're going to have a yelling Yuletide meltdown, your breath might as well be 100% proof, right?

I think Paul Reubens had the same controlled substances plan. How else do you explain this fabulousness?:

Pee Wee. A whole bunch of cute military boys. Grace Jones.

(And a supporting cast that includes Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Charo, the Del Rubio Triplets, Whoopi Goldberg, kd lang, Little Richard, Princess Zsa Zsa!... I mean, this out-Love-Boats the Love Boat.)

Awesome.

~~~~~

Oh, and Mary Hart in a Farah flip and 1988 power-bitch shoulder pads! Here's ET's behind the scenes snippet:

Disconnected

Ugh. I found out last night that my phone and internet connection at home are down. I rang my phone service provider and it seems that somehow my phone line has been 'earthed'. In layman's terms, something has reached out and touched my phone line in a close up and personal way. So consequently I'm at the grubby but cheap internet cafe again. Not looking too closely at the keyboard. Ooops I just did. Gross.

The 2 storey house next door to me is currently being renovated and largely rebuilt, and recently the phone company (or whomever) has sheathed the wires in a protective cover as workmen are working very close to the lines. So I suspect that has somehow been the cause, or maybe one of the workmen accidentally touched something against the unprotected bit. Sadly, them next door look nothing like this.

Anyhoo, the upshot is no phone and internet until probably Monday. Grrr. Fortunately I have a very busy and fun weekend ahead, and Tall & Handsome gets here again on Sunday, so I won't be mourning all the good time on the internet I might be missing too badly. I just won't be able to tell you about it. See you Monday (I hope)!

[Updated: I take back the nasty thoughts I had about Telstra, and the workmen next door. (But I don't take back the hot linesman fantasy.) It's Saturday morning and I'm back on the grid! It turns out that the problem was with an underground connection just in front of my house. During the last rainstorm we had water got into the manhole cover thingy, and into a connection that wasn't as watertight as it should have been. George The Technician has just been and greased the join, for good measure. If he was hotter he could have greased my join, but sadly he was employed for his skills, not looks.]

Spangas

One of the things I craved when I was young was to see images of gay people in the media that I could relate to. Yes it was a different world back then. (Little Gypsy Gay was about as gay it got, and that's in name only.) Except for the homos of the raunchy evening soap Number 96 that is, but I couldn't particularly relate to them either. When I was a young teen I can't think of many other gay images, positive or negative.

Anyhoo. It certainly is a different world, and in some corners of this world it's even more different. The Dutch have a reputation for being progressive, and the pro-diversity teen drama Spangas (official website - in Dutch) certainly enhances that rep in relation to gay youngsters.

Flip and Tobias are identical twin high school students. Flip is gay, and Tobias is straight. Flip has a crush on Tobias's best friend Koen, which turns out to be reciprocated. Flip and Koen start dating, and although Koen at first wants to keep it secret it isn't long before they out themselves to all as a couple. The only negativity seems to come from Tobias, not because he really has a problem with gay people but because he's jealous.

This first clip is really just setting the scene, introducing the fact that Koen is receptive to Flip's crush.

The show is on 5 times a week and youtube user (and blogger) gaydaytime has been posting clips with subtitles daily. What is interesting is that the show is produced by a Christian station, and I gather a rather progressive one at that.

To quote The Gays Of Daytime blog:

Meet the students and teachers of Spangalis, the Zubaran of the Lowlands. This show is on 5 times a week on NEDERLAND 3. I won't go into the complicated ways Dutch public television is organized - suffice it to say, there are several broadcast groups that get allotted time on three networks and each group represents a segment of society. There's a traditional 'workers' broadcaster, one for Catholics and SPANGAS is broacasted by NCRV which stands for 'Dutch Christian Radio Organization', which is also the oldest public broadcaster in the Netherlands.

But still, NCRV is diverse and allows a gay storyline in this show. Meet Flip and Koen. Thing will get complicated, I'm sure, because Flip also has a twin brother called Tobias. Let's see where this will take us...

Pretty cool huh? The young actors, especially the boys playing Flip and Koen, do a nice job. It's most definitely a teen drama with all the small crises that entails. Plus, at times I find the sound of Dutch oddly amusing, with all the aaaaaaargh and glottal sounds it makes me think of a bunch of pirates clearing their throats.

[More clips and info at the Gays Of Daytime blog, and all his Spangas posts are here.]

Here's A Curious Fact

In 1975 I really did appear in this. I was 11, had a swarthy fake tan, drawn on mustache, a head kerchief and my big star turn song line was "This little duckie was a naughty little duckie!".

It was mortifying.

Lychees

Hey you know what, it's Summer!

I can't believe tonight is going to be my first lychee feast of the year. Normally I treat myself to a little bag once they start to appear in the shops, even if they are ball tearingly expensive (as Mikey the lovely ex would say). I saw these tonight in the supermarket, and sure they're still $20 a kilo, but that's kind of reasonable. (I've paid a lot more, but what price that luscious, sweet pearlescent flesh?)

You know you're a photography tragic when your second thought is, shit I've got to get home now before the light fades because I have to photograph these! A similar train of thought that saw me pick up a pomegranate last week, and consider whether I wanted to pay $5 each for them just so I could photograph them first. I decided I didn't want to pay that much, but I regretted it afterwards. They would have made a great shot, and been great in a salad...

So here you have it. Shot minutes ago as the shadow's lengthened towards an early Summer's evening. I grabbed one of my favourite little Japanese plates and set this up on my table in the courtyard. I had to act fast not just because of the light, but because these little babies are destined for my belly.

Farewell To The Master

Jørn Utzon
April 9th, 1918 - November 29th, 2008





Photo by me! Yes, it really looks like this.

Sydney didn't treat Utzon all that well back in the day, and even though the relationship thawed in recent years he became too frail to travel. So sadly he never got the thrill of standing by the water's edge looking across the harbour at its glory. Or climbed the steps to see a thrilling performance. Or sipped a sparkling on the balcony at interval, while a cruise ship sailed past.

Utzon was more than the Opera House, as this small gallery shows. Or even better, a search on Flickr that turns up over 600 results. Yet the Sydney Opera House is the perfect marriage of design and location. Something that seems so surprising and unlikely, and yet so perfect.

I'm sure Utzon came to understand the gift he gave Sydney, or at least I hope he did. Despite the acrimony of the past. Truly, Sydney would be so much the poorer without it.

What The Hell Are "Empire Cookies" Anyway?

It was a hot day today and the bus I catch from work starts at the beach, before wending its way through various light industrial areas en route to Newtown. You know what, half a bus full of boisterous post-beach youngsters and half a bus full of full of tired workers, not a natural marriage. I had a good first day at my new job, but I was kind of brain dead with information overload when I got on the bus.

So I was kind of cranky when I had to ask a young guy to move his bag so I could sit, but then when I realised he was a German backpacker and the girl sitting opposite him was a young Canadian staying at the same backpacker hostel, I couldn't help but listen in. It was interesting (and at times frustrating) to listen to two youngsters from overseas talk about the shortcomings of a summer Christmas. I wanted to say "look, I know you can't get the turkey you want" and "yes, it's stinking hot" and "no, fruitcake is not 'weird' or 'gross', even if it doesn't rate against the 'empire cookies' your Grammie makes".

Of course I didn't, but I nearly did nearly laugh out loud when the young girl was scratching at her scalp at said "Sand is, like, ridiculous."

Ah yes, the ridiculousness of sand.

It must be kind of weird to be away from home and having a completely different sort of experience. I mean, we're primed for the concept of a cold Christmas by generations of traditional wintery Christmas imagery, but I would still find a cold Christmas a strange experience. Christmas day without sweating under the airconditioner going full blast? That's ridiculous.