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Sunday, February 19, 2006 The Lion King, Memoirs of a Geisha & Stevie Nicks' concert Previously, I had said that I would inform you of what the surprise, special event was that I had for Sim two weeks ago. Well - it was going to see The Lion King at the Regent Theatre on Sunday 5 February!! It was just great surprising Sim. He had no idea what we were doing until he opened the envelope (much like an award ceremony, really). We then proceeded to the venue, for an amazing spectacular and we both enjoyed it very much. It was so creative, from the costumes and the sets, to the musical numbers and the wonderful characters. I loved Rafiki and thought both Timon and Pumbaa were excellent. I liked T&P much more in the stage version, as compared to the film. Zazu was excellent too.... I particularly appreciated the "Circle of Life" and "Shadowlands". Having seen both movies The Lion King and one of its sequels, the Lion King 2 - Simba's Pride, I (think I) knew all of the songs in the stage show and could hum and/or sing along. I remembered watching the Lion King back in 1994 with my Mum and Shane at Knox Cinemas. I remembered asking the staff at my local Maccas for the giant poster promoting The Lion King playing at Knox Cinemas that, for those that have seen my bedroom, has pride of place on one of my walls. Pun unintended... :) After the beautiful show, we enjoyed a Chinese banquet at the Post-Deng Cafe in Chinatown. Yes, I know it has an interesting name. Delicious food. Interesting name. It was really special and we feasted on a beautiful meal, while songs from the show filled our head. Saturday 11 Feb, Erin and I met up to have a lovely dinner and we saw Memoirs of a Geisha. I thought the movie was nothing spectacular, however visually it looked amazing and makes me really want to go to Japan to see the lovely countryside there. It was great to catch up with Erin! Sunday 12 Feb saw a lovely afternoon tea at Kellie's place, which turned into dinner at La Porchetta and watching Love, Actually on DVD. What a nice movie that was! Many people had recommended it to me, however I had never gotten around to watching it until last week. I thought Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson were particularly good in it. I found out (albeit later than much of the population, I know) that those annoying Christmas Channel 7 ads where Tom Williams was singing "Christmas is all around us and so the feeling grows" (and its equally annoying film clip) are taking off something that occurred in Love, Actually! This made me find the channel 7 ads even MORE annoying, as they weren't even original.... Tuesday 14 Feb saw Jen's birthday and a great BBQ at her place! It was great to welcome back Ang to Oz, after her three month trip to NY, Europe and London. Thursday 16 Feb saw Eug host her own (Host Scheme) BBQ and Erica and I attended, along with other 'ring-ins' as Eug called them. "Anti-Water Bombing AJ" and "Eccentric Erica" made a formidable team in Pictionary and enjoyed Erica's delicious peppermint crisp laden pavlova, in between guesses and drawing. On Friday 17 Feb, Sim and I enjoyed fish n chips at Sim's place (thanks, Sim!), while watching some of the special features on the DVD of A Very Long Engagement, a beautiful film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, known for this direction of Amelie. It was also great to actually WATCH some of the XX Winter Olympic Games at Torino and I caught the men's figure skating, men's skateboarding and watching the medal ceremony for the men's moguls, where Australia won the gold medal! Saturday 18 Feb saw the acquisition of a beautiful couch from Sim's lovely sister and brother-in-law! After several stops at various family members' places to accommodate the "musical couches", where we were all removalists of one description or another, I had my first visit to the tip which I learnt is actually just a hole in the ground where everyone just chucks their stuff in and then it all gets crunched up... For some reason, (maybe because of the name the 'tip'), I imagined it to be this massive cut-out of the landscape and that you would need to stand on a large cliff top (the 'tip'!) where you would ceremoniously throw your wares off and into this big abyss of rubbish and waste.... In the evening, Dad, my brother and I went to see Stevie Nicks in concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra [MSO] at Rod Laver Arena. It was a great concert and while I only knew several of her and the Fleetwood Mac songs she played, I really enjoyed it. I found an old setlist, which looks to be more or less what she played last night... Beautiful Child was in there somewhere too... Not sure where:
Vanessa Carlton was the support act and I thought she was excellent. In one of her new songs that she had not played live before (The One, I think it was), she hit a 'bum note' and stopped, said 'shit, sorry.. I hit a bum note', laughed a lot, causing the audience to laugh a lot, and then resumed her playing. I was extremely impressed with her act and enjoyed it a lot. Will see you all very soon! Please leave comments!! posted by AJ | 2:28 PM | Thursday, February 09, 2006 The Smashing Pumpkins are BACK!!!! Oh yeah! Read all about it here, via :: ozphoria :: Brokeback to the Future Click the link to see the touching story, of a love that could never be. It uses footage from the Back to the Future movies and music from Brokeback Mountain to create: "Brokeback to the Future" from chocolatecakecity.com Let me know what you think!posted by AJ | 6:55 PM | Saturday, February 04, 2006 Bananas and sausages How's this for a prime example of non-native English...?: The banana are a great remarkable fruit. They are constructed in the same architectural style as sausage, difference being skin of sausage are habitually consumed, while it is not advisable to eat wrapper of banana. The bananas are held aloft while consuming; sausage are usually left in reclining position. Sausage depend for creation on human being or stuffing machine, while banana are pristine product of honourable mother nature. In case of sausage, both conclusions are attached to other sausage; banana on the other hand are attached on one end to stem and opposite termination entirely loose. Finally, banana are strictly of vegetable kingdom, while affiliation of sausage often undecided. Hahahahahahahahaa. Speaking of bananas and sausages (insert winking smile here), I saw Brokeback Mountain with Sim last night at Kino Dendy. It was a beautiful and very moving film. I really enjoyed its slow pace (much like the life and times I imagine Ennis and Jack &c. lived in). Each scene was there for a reason, which should be the case in each film, but I found this was more the case in Brokeback (yes, we're on first name terms). It is an extremely powerful movie, one I enjoyed very much. I encourage everyone to see it. Just finished reading Ruth Wajnyrb's "Away With Words" (above quote re: bananas and sausages appears in it) Currently reading: second-hand copy of The Rules of Attraction (yes, the 2002 film is based on a 1987 book) Currently listening to: Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks' album Trouble in Shangri-La, in preparation for the Stevie Nicks concert in mid-Feb. Also listening to Coldplay's Talk single, including two new b-sides (yay!). Currently eating: Nothing. Just had lunch - baked beans on toast. Mmm - indulgent. Currently not wearing shoes. Need to shave. Am really looking forward to a special event (a surprise for Sim tomorrow night) that we're going to. Will blog it after that time.... YAY! posted by AJ | 2:11 PM | | ||
