Arts For Old Pharts

Hey Appy, I would if I could understand it!

FoP has started...who is seeing what? I'm off tonight to the Water Fools performance by the French group Hotopie. I saw them practising during the week, 'cycling' over the river.....

Mary I was at the opening ceremony on Friday and Hotopie got cancelled...I met a few of the french technicians last week and asked what would happen if it was too windy (given that Perth is a pretty windy city) and they looked at me aghast! Saw them soon after they cancelled and they were distraught, 1st time in 20 years they had ever had to cancel a show...I felt very sorry for them and almost felt like I had jinxed them..
On the bright side of it ...it was the first time I used the train into the city...tres exciting! It was quite civilised too...
The only thing I'm definitely going to that I know of is Stories of the World for the writers' festival. I normally get given a day's notice for other shows!
Hope you enjoy it!

Appy - It's hard enough to think 'normally' let alone logically, so to throw in mathametical theorems into the equation would just about push me over the edge of reason...messy...

Water Fools was wonderful....thousands lined the banks of the Swan for the spectacular display. I thought of Cirque de Soleil in some of the more surreal aspects. Brilliant night

i think it may have been Iltopie? sorry i missed it Mary :(((

I think you are right Billy...I need stronger glasses

BTW we went to see Darjeeling Express on the new train too....very sophistimacated...

Seeing That 1 Guy tonight at Becks Music Box. Supposedly an "eargasmic" experience...one man and a very tall and weird looking instrument.


You saw the movie on the train Mary?

of course Billy, they even provided poppadoms

I just wandered in never having visited this page before and was sent immediatly to the internet search engine to look up 'poppadoms'. After putting Billy's last post into context with Mary's last and never having seen the word before, you can imagine the flights of fancy that twirled about until curiosity was served.

Jeb, be very careful...googling poppadoms can be hazardous to your health...

Yer not kidding about that. I got the cat up in my lap and used her little paw to tap the keys when I did my search. I didn't want to leave any evidence that I had ever been there. She's been curled up in a tight little ball asleep ever since. Poor thing!

jebbles - I am truly amazed, nay - boggled off my butt that you have never heard of poppadoms/pappadams before, and therefore deduce that perhaps you may not be indulging in too many curry meals in your neck of the woods...unless it goes under an alternative word?

saw That 1 Guy and I thought I was weird...there are way weirder people out there- I am so normal. Music was 'out there' as were the people dancing to it, thought headbanging went out with the seventies...they don't realise the damage they're inflicting on their necks and the physios they will make rich.

Jeb...WATCH THE CAT!!!!!!!
Billy...you sound just like my mother!!!

Mary - I'm going to admit it...I think I did damage my neck back in the 70's and it has cost me a pretty packet! But how else could you dance to Led Zep and Deep Purple? not by doing the cha cha cha!

OK, now, just got back from touring That 1 Guy's web site. The term you are all looking for is

"Far Out, Dood!"

I would go...

Can you imaging him and Blue Man Group doing a joint concert?

Hey Jebbles - didn't even know he had a webpage, did you listen to the end? he is actually classically trained and can play some great jazz, I was disappointed he was so 'heavy' in his performance, but I guess he was trying to gauge the audience's reaction, and those in the 'mosh pit' looked like heavy type dudes...

Went to the Writer's Festival: Stories of the World...."Journey with novelist and translator Maureen Freely to mysterious and intriguing Istanbul; memoirist Peter Godwin returns to his birthplace, Zimbabwe, a country in the state of collapse; Malaysian novelist Tan Twan Eng weaves a haunting tale of betrayal in Penang; American novelist Nathan Englander highlights the chaos and absurdity of Buenos Aires on the cusp of a military coup; and acclaimed Australian writer Alex Miller delivers a moving and profound meditation on the land, beauty and truth." It was a lovely experience to be read to by the authors, I wish story-telling would make a come-back...

The Chasers tomorrow...woohooo!

Read JM Coetzee's "Disgrace" as it's one of my set texts but we had it in book club sometime back and I never got around to reading it then. You either 'love' or hate this book apparently...I thought it a good read, but disturbing - set in Cape Town and dealing with coercion, intimiditation, humiliation...the main character is not endearing which might make this book difficult to read for some. Glad I got through it though, unsettling as it was.

A joke of sorts on this page? well it's in context...but don't read it if you're easily offended...

Students at a local school were assigned to read 2 books, "Titanic" & "My Life" by Bill Clinton

One student turned in the following book report, with the proposition that they were nearly identical stories!

His cool professor gave him an A+ for this report.

Titanic:... cost - $29.99
Clinton :... cost - $29.99


Titanic:.... Over 3 hours to read
Clinton :..... Over 3 hours to read

Titanic:.... . The story of Jack and Rose, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.
Clinton :..... The story of Bill and Monica, their forbidden love, and subsequent catastrophe.

Titanic:.... Jack is a starving artist.
Clinton :..... Bill is a bulls*it artist.

Titanic:.... In one scene, Jack enjoys a good cigar.
Clinton :.... Ditto for Bill.

Titanic:.... During the ordeal, Rose's dress gets ruined.
Clinton :..... Ditto for Monica..

Titanic:.... Jack teaches Rose to spit.
Clinton :..... Let's not go there.

Titanic:..... Rose gets to keep her jewellery.
Clinton :..... Monica' s forced to return her gifts.

Titanic:..... Rose remembers Jack for the rest of her life.
Clinton :..... Clinton doesn't remember Jack.

Titanic:.... Rose goes down on a vessel full of seamen.
Clinton :..... Monica...ooh, let's not go there, either.

Titanic:.... Jack surrenders to an icy death.
Clinton :..... Bill goes home to Hillary - basically the same thing.

Went to see Dara O'Briain, Irish comedian on St. Patrick's Day. This man is so incredibly funny. I laughed for two hours solid, the most wonderful accent to behold. (I've always loved Irish accents though). Only the Irish can say 'feck' and get away with it so sweetly. Excellent, if you ever get a chance to see him go.

Saw Jack Johnson last weekend - a good concert, he played 25 songs without a break, pretty impressive! A beautiful evening which would have been better in King's Park lying down on a picnic rug and sipping champers. You were right bertie - he was very laid back and bare-footed! Glad I went.

Thanx for the tip André. Watched Dara on Youtube, bit closer than seeing him live. Very funny

After re-reading these posts, I got my act together and read ASOB. I too thoroughly enjoyed it. I have 2 close family members with depression and can attest that MH is spot on with his depictions of both the sufferer and the long-suffering family.

OMG, started reading Before Green Gables and was crying like a baby by page 36...where did the past 40 years go!!!!Budge Wilson has got the tone and atmosphere dead right.

Have just read that 'they' are filming My Sister's Keeper, and the director wants to change the ending. The author JP hates that idea, but I thought her ending was a cop-out and detracted from the 'point' of the book. I don't know who the director is or what the new ending will be, but the whole issue is complex and it should be interesting to find out...

me again Reading a wonderful book The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. Loosely based on a true story it is a brilliant depiction of life set in the hell of Sarajevo under seige. Makes me cry, laugh and think...what more could you ask?

woooohoooo! have finally got my nose between the covers of To Kill a Mockingbird...read ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach and loved it, Jaz if you're reading this, we debated that there was definitely something about the relationship between Florence and her father that was suss...

Just heard that Steven Galloway is in trouble. He admitted basing his novel on a true story and the real person is claiming that he had not given permission. To what extent does a person 'own' an action? The real cellist did play for 22 days in honour of the dead, but Galloway admitted that, and admitted fictionalising all the characters and the plot which was woven around the action.

Is the real person's name used in the novel Mary? If not, I reckon if Galloway has already admitted to fictionalising characters/plot, then I'm not sure if the cellist has a case...what do you think? I would imagine that most novelists write fiction through their own personal experiences or by doing extensive research on any given subject that has piqued their interest, changing names so that any inference to 'real' people is masked...if there is a case for defamation of character, etc...well, it's a risk I suppose...but it would cause more publicity, which in turn = more book sales...

No, Billy, he says before the novel that a real person did this,(and after he says that the man survived and now lives abroad)but he clearly stated that everything else was made up. The action of the cellist is merely the pivot around which the central characters and plot weave.I agree the real cellist should not have a case but fear he will. He claims that though his name was not used, he is identifiable by his actions. Thus he appears to be claiming 'ownership' and therefore copyright. Will be VERY interesting to see how this develops.

Hi all....I am reading a different kind of fiction book (no murders) by Adrian Mathews, 2006. ''The Apothecary's House '' action is in Amsterdam.... Very different yet thrilling... and I like DiMorrissey's book..a nice way to learn about Australia.
If you want books that you won't put down try any novels by Lawrence Sanders. He wrote close to 35 books since 1969. ''The first deadly sin'' made a film in 1980.... I have almost all of his book... For many years I was watching for his next book to come out until he died just before 2000. I think I should go back to reading them again... He has a great way with words...

If you like paintings...and forest... and outdoors scenery.... look for Tom Thomson on Google.ca ... You'll see some of his paintings from Canada. If lucky, you may discover the 4 seasons; the pale colors of spring, the blues of summer, the reds of fall and the whites of winter....he died much to young!

Hello. Has anyone read 'The Shack?' I was just wondering if anyone had.

The book by William P Young? No, I haven't ...what's it like?

Nope Ruby, but let us know if it's any good.

To Kill a MB was a great read and I'm so glad I can go to my grave with a tick against that book (well it is in the top 100 list of books you should read before you die). And then I saw a clothing label of "Boo Radley" and I wondered why I hadn't thought of that, not that particular label, but how about Shelob's Lair for stockings or Lennie Small's underwear...

I've also read 3 books that my daughter forced me to read...New Moon, Eclipse and i forget the other title and its by a someone Meyer, and it's about Werewolves and vampires, and the 4th book is out next week and the movie is coming to a cinema near you very soon...mmmm

Reading We need to talk about kevin by Lionel Shriver, I think Mary might have mentioned this book already but I'm too lazy to click back and scroll.

The 'new' KJ Rowling? They can't have been too bad or you would never have read all 3???
Tsk, tsk Billy, my words of wisdom are just blowin' in the wind...

The Shack is about a man whose daughter is abducted and his relationship with God. It doesn't preach, but covers the Trinity, free will, predestination, and mercy. It's not great literature, but it was a fairly good book. It won't take you long to read it, either.