This and That

Review of Karan Arjun here.  I rarely watched films of the 80s and 90s and this one reminded me why. And wasted a few hours of my long weekend:-)  It also reminded me of being trapped in buses which had videos with volume knobs set to maximum, a feature that happily seems to have been removed from modern buses.  And it is hard to believe that the actors in it once appeared in Fauji and Adhe Adhure.

Not all viewing experiences were so dire. Once in awhile Aunty splutters to life and it did so this time around with The Slap, which began airing last week.  I haven't read the novel though I have read Christos Tsiolkas' earlier work, Loaded, a fairly raw and visceral take on growing up Greek and gay in Melbourne.  The Slap is set in Australian suburbia and is more a state of the nation novel, the first episode suggests a promising series.  Tsiolkas' writing may not be to everyone's tastes (particularly the explicit sex, drug abuse and the sometimes blunt employment of language) but part of his appeal I think is a genuine attempt to articulate his thoughts and concerns.  The ABC has gone a bit overboard with the marketing of the series and Tsiolkas is everywhere on the channel, luckily he is an engaging interviewee.  In fact much like with Tsiolkas, a recent episode of QandA also broke away from the usual interviewing format led by Zizek and Mona Eltahawy. I had read about Zizek but never heard him speak and whether you agree with his ideas or not that hour made for pure theatre.  Which is rare on the ABC.

In other important news, after months of frustrated attempts, I got a decent picture of a half-blown dandelion.