Tag Archives: Review

Books

Notes from an Exhibition

I heard about this book on Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program and while I never take book recommendations from radio programs the reviewer was so taken with this novel by Patrick Gale that when I saw it in the bookshop on Lygon St in Melbourne after dinner with my brother the other week, I thought I’d give it a go.

It is a story about a bi-polar artist and her family. She dies and the story of her and her family is slowly revealed in flashbacks while the present brings us to resolution. In fact when you think about it Patrick has written this book as one might view a painting.

You don’t look at a painting in a linear view… your eye is captured and you’re drawn to bits and pieces of the “story” the artist is trying to portray. When you stand back and view the complete artwork, you get a wholistic view.

Bob Dylan tried to do this with his song “Tangled up in Blue“.

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“…and I then realised that what we were doing was arranging an exhibition, we were thinking, well, this one [chapter] will really offset that one, and it will set up a sort of vibration.”

I can’t tell you how satisfying a read this is. The characters are so engaging. The art – you wish Rachel really existed so you could go to an exhibition. I’m even intrigued now with Quakers. I have been dragging out the end to make it last just a little bit longer. It has replaced Perfume by Patrick Suskind as my all-time favourite book. And Perfume has been top of my faves list for more than a decade.

It was – to quote Stephen Fry – “Complete Perfection”.

Transcript of an interview with Patrick Gale

TV

Shock on Sunday Night’s Idol

2 Comments

As regular readers of SultanaBlog would know, I’m not the biggest fan of Marty or Carl. Prepare yourselves for a shock.

Ready?

I actually enjoyed both their performances. Marty – if you closed your eyes and didn’t watch him mooch about the stage – sounded pretty good, Carl didn’t sing swing. It was a scat free day. Callooh! Callay! (to quote Lewis Carroll) That on it’s own made for a better performance.

Daniel can go for my money this week. Hated his performance. Well out of his depth.

Matt – his eyes saved him this week.
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Tarasai – the girl can sing.

Natalie – Endless Love? What was she thinking??!

Ben – Oh dear. Not your best performance my dear.

So I’m hoping Daniel will go but I suspect Natalie might be on her way out. 🙁

TV

Australian Idol review – Top 8

The fabulous Meg over at Blogpond has summarised this week’s Idol so well that I only need to add my postscript…

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted about Idol. My Melbourne trip came in the middle. I wasn’t unhappy about Mark leaving but was gobsmacked that Marty survived… and this week when Dicko called for him to be euthanised – despite me cheering from my sofa, I had to agree with Mark that it was a sure fire way to get him to stay. We Aussies don’t like to be told what to do by Pommies in positions of authority.

The Hillsong thing… well I didn’t know they were Hillsongers until Channel 7 pointed that out so I’m not sure how effective a guerilla branding move it was until then… and according to The Age – they might just be Christians and not associated with the Hillsong church.

Or maybe they are just good singers who believe in God.

I must say it’s the one thing that gives me the irrits about Tarasai – the whole “I have a gift and I thank the Lord for it” sweet as pie thing she was doing in the early rounds. Give me a break! But the girl CAN sing and should her beliefs disbar her from winning a competition?
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Come on! This is egalitarian Australia. All beliefs (theoretically) welcome!

Anyway the Brit Pop Show. Disappointing really – there have been some fantastic Brit Pop songs but once again the song choice was ordinary… apart from Tarasai – can’t go past Queen in my opinion.

So my top four: Tarasai, Natalie (really crappy song choice – but I thought Mark overstepped himself here with his comments – is the man on drugs?) Ben and Matt…

Of the rest? Carl – I’m so OVER that jazz niche thing you’ve got going on boyfriend, Marty – enough said, Daniel – I agree with Kyle – there’s something about you that I don’t connect with. Jacob – a very gracious exit.

TV

Idol judges under review

So a quick wrap of tonight’s Disco show:

Tarasai – great performance… didn’t like the jeans… her performance was a bit straight… could have done with a bit more sizzle as Mark puts it. Don’t like it as much listening back as I thought I would.

Ben – pretty good. Nice voice. Holding the notes just a tad too long. Didn’t get Mark’s androgeny comment though.

Mark – rocky – love the song. Did it well. A safe choice for him though and his performances are becoming a bit samey. I know most artists don’t show do several styles in the one concert but… it’s a singing competition.

Lana – the judges hate her. I thought she was about 10% underdone. I thought Mark’s suggestion she should concentrate on her leaving was rough. She should make up her own mind. She can take her exams any time. Listening in my headphones now she does sound a little weak but she’s getting there.

Jacob – cool song – I hated his outfit – looked crap. I can see what the judges mean about him not having anywhere to go with this song.

Marty – is gone for my money this week. Ruined a great song. Sounded bloody awful.
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Daniel – held the notes too long. Doesn’t have the chutzpah for a Stones song. Cute but. Sounds better in the headphones than he seemed to when I was watching the telly.

Carl – Poo is not called scat for nothing! STOP BLOODY SCATTING. Apart from that, his best performance so far. I had to yell at the telly though. And now listening back… IT IS IRRITATING ME AGAIN. I’m going to have to turn it off. I agree with Dicko here!

Matt – Got a touchdown. Great song choice – but I wished he’d picked Fantasy. Veering close to the big band sound of Carl but managed to stay on the right side of disco… just. At least he didn’t scat. Was it worth a touchdown? Borderline. Still a good performance.

Natalie – I agree with Mark – too many fancy bits at the start – apart from that – a great performance. Love the song, love the singer. She meant it.

As discussed previously, usually I relate most to Kyle’s comments. Tonight he only got it once for me – and that was on Daniel. I agreed with Mark twice (unheard of) and Dicko took the words out of my mouth three times… Marcia as usual said nothing of interest.

So okay, I’ll stay with them one more week. Especially if Marty goes tomorrow night.

Books

Dead Famous

Ben Elton’s book about the Big Brother franchise is as you’d expect choc full of his witty observations, and coupled with an outrageous plot, makes for an easy and entertaining read.

This is not high art. However his observations about reality TV and the generation that so willingly embraces it, are, IMHO, on-the-money.

That’s not to say that I completely agree with his hero, a curmudgeonly 55+ inspector who is in charge of the investigation when one of the housemates is murdered. Coleridge speaks for the baby boomers who cannot quite get into their heads why anyone would want to put themselves on display and at the mercy of a television company. He probably wouldn’t get blogs either, certainly not myspace or facebook.

Agatha Christie would have been proud of Ben for all the red herrings and the theatrical finish.
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I have a soft spot for Ben Elton. I love his TV work (Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line), his musicals (including We Will Rock You) and his other books (Gridlock, Popcorn etc). As he married a Jam Tart and spends quite a lot of his time in Western Australia – he counts (almost) as one of our own.

This book – probably isn’t his best – but is entertaining and a fun read none-the-less.

And now to Uncle Tom’s Cabin – which I’m finding depressing and hard-going at the moment – granted not as depressing or hard-going as the people whose lives it depicts in such graphic detail…

TV

Which Idol Judge do you most agree with?

Yes this is my new poll and the reason I’m asking the question is that I’ve been gobsmacked at how I’ll say to Groover – “Gee I don’t like that outfit” or “They’re not moving around enough” etc – and this particular judge will say exactly what I’ve just said.

It’s not what I’ve said – obviously I should be an Idol Judge (ha ha) – but who agrees with me!

Watching the show I’d say I was most like Dicko – I like him best of all the judges – but it’s Kyle that says what I’m thinking. Nearly. Every. Time.

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Which is a bit scary to be honest.

So… who says what you think?

Books, Current Affairs

Emma

I picked up this Jane Austen novel in a second hand booksale. I’d just caught part of Clueless on the telly – you know the movie with Alicia Silverstone – and it seemed like serendipity to then come across the book the story is based on.

So I read it. I last read the book when my orchid hunter was born. I went through a Jane Austen phase and read all of her novels and even a biography when the novels ran out. And of course I caught the movie.

It’s not my favourite JA novel but it is still quite charming. The English class system is thrown sharply into focus as Emma compares the various standings of the people around her as only one near the top of the pile can. The manners are charming too. It is hard to imagine calling someone Mr or Miss these days – unless they are a former teacher perhaps, and would anyone really be scandalised if you were to call someone by their first name?
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Hmmm well I do still cringe to remember how I addressed the then Prime Minister of Australia once… “Hi Paul” I (dare I say) gushed… well perhaps not gushed… but I was certainly somewhat casual. Hey I was young and probably overexcited.

So apart from Prime Ministers, and former teachers who probably still scare you a bit, and very old people – who else do you address with social title – why I spoke to the Administrator of Christmas Island just the other day (he’s like the governor) and he told me to call him Neil… can you think of anyone?

Books

Dragon’s Fire

3 Comments

By Anne and Todd McCaffrey.

Anne McCaffrey’s fantasy world of Pern is like comfort food to me. I love these stories. When 911 happened… we watched it live on the telly as the first pictures came in right after The Bill, a favourite in those days… I dug out my collection and read them all back-to-back.

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I’m not sure these measure quite up to the richness of the world created in the original series but I still enjoyed reading it and will look for the next one when it comes. Again, not challenging reading but my head is too full at the moment for anything but escapism to a world I’ve already been to.

Film

Pirates of the Caribbean

We went to see the third Pirates movie yesterday and while it was beautifully filmed etc etc it was a most poorly put together movie. The story was all over the place. Scenes were inserted that just didn’t make sense… like the opener… what was all that about? And Calipso? What a huge lead-up to a very anticlimactic finish. What was going on there? And it took sooooooooooo loooooooooooong.

Actually, don’t bother answering the above questions, I’ve just checked my care factor and as I suspected, it is zero.
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The only bit I really liked was the cameo by Keith Richards. Neat.

Blogging, Theatre

Grumpy Old Woman

That’s me. I’ve had the database fixed and this site is still stuffed, although I can still see all the posts in the back end. So I’m grumpy.

Last night I went to see Grumpy Old Women at the Burswood. I’m thinking I’m still too young. For one thing I was confused by their demographic. They talk about being 48 (which Jenny Eclair actually is… the others are 50 and 55), they act about 70, in fact even my closer to 80 mother-in-law acts younger than they did onstage.

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The best line? Strokes are the new Botox. 🙂