Sydney Noir

Recently taken pictures around the Opera House. The day itself was the coldly brilliant day common in a Sydney winter. These were taken at end of day and of course worked upon to heighten the darkness. 

A book, A movie, the usual

It's been quite busy of late and though I have bits and pieces of things I want to write about, I don't have the time or energy to bash out the words on my computer.  Friday evening inertia and the all pervasive cold has made any thought impossible but I will do my best :-)

The daily train commute has been occupied by a reading of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Buru Quartet. It is a sweeping account of the beginnings of Indonesian nationalism and I wish I had the time to read it at one sitting as one may have done over a summer holiday.  The fact that it was orally narrated and then written much after the events took place gives it a sense of distance and perspective. I hope to blog on it at a later date.

My patience with reading doesn't extend much to films.  These days even a 90 minute film feels inordinately long, no doubt exacerbated by the grazing on the Internet every few minutes that we all succumb to these days (Laura Miller wrote in Salon that she in fact barely watches a film before jumping on to imdb to check the details on the film and then continuing the back and forth, on reading that I had a wry smile of recognition).  I have been trying to watch a film every weekend, mainly because I have a ginormous amount of bought and unviewed DVDs threatening to overwhelm my place.  So I watched Passion Fish - all 2+ hours of it - uninterrupted.  Given the length, it is meandering but I muchly enjoyed it. As a film on female friendship, it is way above the likes of Thelma and Louise or the traditional tearjerker like Beaches.  The lead actress is very good and so is Alfre Woodard. Bonus, Alfre Woodard is astonishingly beautiful-I can't think of anyone I found this attractive in a long time. And there is a youngish David Strathairn, assuredly hotter than the bog standard leading man! And it has a lovely Cajun/Zydeco soundtrack.  

Half the year has passed by in what seems to be unseemly haste.  After a long spell of summer, it's been really cold here. Normally I enjoy the Sydney winter but this time around I am quite tempted to pack the Buru Quartet and take myself to a Bali beach!